How AI Can Improve Patient Outcomes and Why Focusing on Proof is Key for Any Health Tech Startup: A Q&A with KelaHealth CEO Bora Chang

Intuitive Ventures portfolio company KelaHealth is a surgical intelligence company that delivers clinical insights and surgical outcomes analytics into point-of-care applications across the surgical journey via an API service. And they’re on quite a roll: The KelaHealth Surgical Intelligence Platform is being deployed at Advocate Aurora Health’s clinical sites to evaluate and optimize patient outcomes, and the impact of the company’s platform on patient outcomes following colorectal surgery was recently demonstrated in a peer-reviewed study led by researchers at Duke University. KelaHealth also recently completed a $1.4 million grant award from the National Science Foundation, which helped usher in personalized and tailored surgical care within an increasingly value-based care healthcare context.?

Intuitive Ventures Senior Associate Vivian Emmely Golfin sat down with KelaHealth’s CEO, Bora Chang, to hear more about the company’s accomplishments from the past year, and what’s top of mind for them in 2024. Read on for their conversation:

Q: A highlight from 2023 was the release of the Duke study that demonstrates the efficacy of the KelaHealth Surgical Intelligence Platform. What are the longer term implications of this study??

A: This study is one more piece of evidence of the impact of our Platform, building on prior published research showing a decrease in post-surgical complications after vascular surgery following implementation of the KelaHealth Surgical Intelligence Platform. This latest study provides evidence in an additional surgical discipline: colorectal surgery. Combined, these results show that clinicians can use a risk prediction platform to optimize care for each patient using magnitudes of data that was not previously accessible, thus enabling them to deliver the best outcomes for each individual based on their specific needs.?

Q: One of the unique things about the Duke study is how KelaHealth trained its platform on Duke’s own patient data (as opposed to training on national or commercially available data, as many AI models do). Why was this so important???

A: Every healthcare system’s patient data is reflective of specific factors affecting the local population, such as barriers to care access or features of the built environment that impact nutrition and overall health status. Thus, a national dataset won’t accurately reflect the nuances of a patient population in North Carolina compared to Minnesota, for example. Training our platform on Duke’s actual patient data allows us to deliver highly personalized insights about individual patient risk and guide surgeons on what each of their patients’ unique care journeys should look like. Patients aren’t just “units” that go through a database and no two patients are alike. This is why we’re so committed to taking individual clinical histories and using that unique data to better predict, anticipate and personalize care recommendations.

Q: Amidst all the AI hype, it’s increasingly important to demonstrate how AI models can directly improve patient outcomes. How is KelaHealth leveraging AI to positively impact human lives on a daily basis?

A: The AI-enabled insights that KelaHealth generates allows hospitals to perform more life-saving surgeries at higher quality and lower cost – meaning patients can receive better care and gain better access to that care. The Duke study is a real-world example of how our technology is reducing the rate of post-surgical complications: In the study, the KelaHealth Platform was associated with a 21% reduction in acute kidney injury and a 24% decrease in costly readmissions following colorectal surgery. Even MedTech and software companies can benefit from KelaHealth technology, because they can link their products to the improved surgical outcomes KelaHealth enables, leading to higher utilization for the right patients.???

Q: Is KelaHealth’s API service format accelerating adoption of the Platform? Do you think more health tech providers should lean on this format?

A: With the API service, we’re able to enhance our partners’ applications with KelaHealth’s rich predictive analytics – this means no new logins for our hospital users, and a seamless integration with their existing workflows, whether that is a medical device interface or software portals tackling surgical workflows. And yes, I do think more health tech providers should leverage the API service format. Our API service allows us to deliver clinical insights and surgical outcomes analytics into point-of-care applications across the entire surgical journey. The API format is so easily integratable, allowing our technology to flow through a variety of existing industry applications offered by MedTech and surgical software companies.

Q: As an early stage startup, KelaHealth has already secured clinical validation and traction, and multi-year commercial contracts – all while being highly capital efficient. What’s your advice to other health tech startups looking to penetrate new markets and achieve similar milestones??

A: Focus on proof of the product, and proof of your business model. There’s a lot of noise in the market these days, and my view is that the companies that stick around will be the ones that can demonstrate tangible clinical and economic benefits, and evidence of a model that sustains these benefits. Healthcare providers operate on tight margins, and their leaders have limited bandwidth. So it starts by understanding and tackling providers’ unmet needs, and doing the legwork for them to show the positive impact you’re going to make across their organization.

Q: In addition to being a CEO, you’re also an MD. As a healthcare professional, what’s top of mind for you in 2024?

A: As a trained physician, I’m passionate about how innovation translates and impacts real patients. In particular, there is exciting movement in the field of surgery where traditional hardware innovations are intersecting with digital software technologies. In the year ahead, we’re looking to scale our impact at this intersection with some of our key partners.?