Erez Druk, co -founder and CEO of Freed.
Courtesy: Freed
For Erez Druk, who spent almost four years working on FacebookBuilding a FREED medical care startup has been a love job literally.
Druk's wife, Dr. Gabi Meckler, works in a community clinic in northern California, where she takes care of children and adults, and baby delivery in a local hospital. When with patients, Mekler is flooded with paperwork, constantly updating medical records and related documents.
“They caught the world of doctors,” Druk said in an interview. “One day, it was like, 'Hi Gabi, what should we build for you?' And she said: 'Make my notes for me.' “
Druk worked as a Facebook software engineer from 2013 to launch its previous startup, Urbanleap, in 2017. Urbanleap closure, which focused on the software for public procurement, in 2022, and began freeing itself the following year, along with Andrey Bannikov, who had spent the previous decade on Facebook.
Freed offers a AI scribe that automates the clinical notification process in real time as doctors record their visits with patients. The company sells technology directly to individual doctors, often in small or independent practices, for $ 99 per month, and is beginning to associate with complete practices, Druk said.
On Wednesday, Freed announced a financing round of $ 30 million led by Sequoia Capital, a strong tour for a company that collects its first institutional capital. The company also announced new features such as custom notice format, preliminary and specialized templates. Freed said he plans to create additional capabilities, such as automating coding and other functions of the billing cycle.
Doctors spend almost nine hours a week in documentation, according to an October study by Google Cloud. A study last year of Athenahealth concluded that administrative tasks are a significant reason for exhaustion, since 64% of doctors feel overwhelmed by administrative requirements.
Doctors are responsible for completing paper mountains, including the tedious and slow process of clinical notes, which contain detailed records of patient visits.
Druk wants to automate most of that possible process so that doctors can spend more time with patients and, perhaps, even with their family.
At the end of February, 17,000 doctors worldwide use FREED in approximately 2 million visits to patients each month, he said.
“It simply started to spread,” Druk said. “It has really been beyond my wildest expectations.”
Full field
Druk is not the only one who sees the opportunity.
The AI scribes market has exploited in recent years as health systems have been looking for tools that can help address administrative exhaustion. Freed will face technological giants such as Microsoftas well as new companies such as Abridge and Suki that have developed similar tools.
Josephine Chen, a partner of Sequoia, said that the market full of people reflects the seriousness of the problem. She said that FREED's writing tool has gained traction by focusing on smaller and independent offices.
“Freed's approach is unique because most of the companies we see are serving a different market segment,” Chen said.
Natalie Desseyn said Freed is the reason she is still working as a practical nurse in psychiatry.
Desseyn sees about 250 patients through a practice called rest therapy in the cloud in Virginia. She has been using Freed for about two years and pays it herself. Without it, he said he could not see patients on such a large scale, if he did.
“I'm not writing here, so people really feel heard,” said Desseyn. “I can't tell you all the roads, my life has literally changed.”
Desseyn has tried some other AI writing tools, but said he always returns to Freed. She said her model is better to keep things precise, stick to the facts and avoid strange comments in the notes.
Mekler, Druk's wife, said the documentation was what he liked the most while practicing medicine. He said Freed felt “magic” the first time he used it.
Previously, Meckler said he would spend approximately half of his days writing notes. The individual tasks that used to take it around 15 minutes to complete now are approaching two, he said.
“I expect great things from Erez, but I was still surprised,” said Mekler.
Druk said he and his team of 50 people focus on building the business and their product portfolio this year. He said he is still committed to creating a platform that doctors and his wife enjoy using.
“It is really the most satisfying and most important work I have done, and it will probably do it,” he said.
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