SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Oct 20, 2015) - Amino today launched a new service to help people make confident health care decisions, starting with the doctors they choose, with the aim to create the clearest picture of American health care. Built on a vast, unprecedented database that includes nearly every practicing doctor in America and experiences from more than 188 million people, Amino's new personalized service allows people to find and book an appointment with doctors based on their experience with specific conditions or procedures, accepted insurance, and more. The company also announced $19.4 million in pre-launch funding from Accel, Charles River Ventures (CRV), Rock Health, and more than a dozen individual investors.
"Health care is an essential part of our society, yet the process is not oriented around those who matter most -- the people getting care. Every day, we make important decisions that drastically affect our lives without enough information to feel confident," said David Vivero, CEO and co-founder of Amino. "Amino's mission is to change this, giving everyone access to never-before-seen data and insights to become more informed and take charge of their health care. We're starting with the search to find the right doctor, but the potential to use our data to help people navigate their health care choices is massive."
Amino has spent two years compiling a dynamic, patient de-identified database from the ever-growing paper trail of the American health care system. This database includes more than 3.9 billion health care interactions, and accounts for nearly every practicing doctor in America. The data is organized and channeled into a service that's accessible, personalized, and intuitive. Amino leverages health care data that has already been anonymized, and privacy is held to utmost importance.
Today, most Americans must rely on a small and inconsistent amount of information to help them with their health care decisions, and if they're lucky they receive good recommendations from friends or family. Amino's service allows people to make decisions based on the real world history of more than 893,000 doctors in America. People searching on Amino.com are matched with doctors who have seen people like them -- with the same condition or procedure needs, age, and sex - and people can filter by additional factors such as location and insurance.
Amino then takes care of the appointment booking right from the results or doctor's profile, and helps navigate scheduling logistics with convenience in mind. The ability to find and schedule care is just the beginning. Amino, with its ever-growing database, aims to help people make other important health care decisions about treatment, costs, facility searches, and more.
"Technology has the potential to transform the practice and delivery of medicine, ultimately for the better," said Dr. Robert Wachter, interim chairman of the Department of Medicine and chief of the Division of Hospital Medicine at UCSF, and chairman of Amino's Advisory Board. "Making it easier for patients to choose the best doctors and hospitals for their specific problems is one critical aspect of this sea change, and Amino is helping us take a big step forward."
In connection with the financing, Amino welcomes Brian O'Malley of Accel Partners and Rafael Corrales of Charles River Ventures (CRV) to its Board of Directors. Other investors include Rock Health and more than a dozen individual investors and business leaders across industries. Amino has also formed an Advisory Board with leaders from the academic, health care, privacy, and consumer technology fields to ensure its approach, data methods, and services incorporate best practices. Its current members are Dr. Carol Cain, Dr. Ashish Jha, Udi Manber, Dr. Arnold Milstein, Dr. Philip Pizzo, Joy Pritts, Bryan Sivak, and Dr. Robert Wachter as Advisory Board chairman.
"Even though individuals are paying more and more for their health care, the industry still acts like the insurance companies are the primary customer," said Brian O'Malley, Partner at Accel Partners. "Yet, healthcare is the only industry where quality of product is not correlated with price. A great doctor is just as expensive as an average one. With Amino, patients can finally search for the doctor most likely to help them stay healthy."
"While Americans have a wealth of resources when making decisions around food, travel, and home-buying, there is still a lack of information available to us when making choices about our health care," added Rafael Corrales, partner at CRV. "Amino can ultimately fix that, and they're not afraid to take on the challenge. They're going to make a big difference in a lot of lives."
Amino was founded by Roger Billerey-Mosier, Maudie Shah, Sumul Shah, and David Vivero, who previously founded RentJuice, a company that moved the apartment rental experience online, later acquired by Zillow. Based in San Francisco, Amino will be applying funding to further build out its database, products, and team to guide people through the frustrating complexities of the health care system.
For more information about the company or to find the right doctor for you, visit www.amino.com.
About Amino:
Amino aims to connect everyone to the best health care possible. Powered by a comprehensive database that includes nearly every practicing doctor in America and experiences from more than 188 million patients, Amino's service empowers people to make confident decisions about their health care, starting with the doctors they choose. The company is based in San Francisco and is backed by Accel Partners, Charles River Ventures, Rock Health, and notable individual investors.
Contact Information:
Press contact:
Iz Conroy
press@amino.com