As the world begins to make its way out of the COVID pandemic, which saw record investment in digital health startups, Israeli startup ventures – especially ones that utilize artificial intelligence (AI) technology – operating in the American healthcare space find themselves on the edge of a new and important era.
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One example is Aidoc, which in April signed a partnership deal with the US-based Radiology Partners, which operates in one out of every 10 US hospitals. Aidoc's FDA-approved AI-based solutions help radiologists improve efficiencies that lead to a reduction of inpatient length-of-stay and time in the emergency department, which results in better care and lower costs for the patient, payer and health system.
Aidoc was founded by three partners, all alumni of the IDF's elite Talpiot program: CEO Elad Walach, CTO Michael Braginsky, and VP of R&D Guy Reiner, all of whom worked with AI and machine learning during their military service.
According to Walach, "There is enormous value to the American healthcare system's growing adoption of AI. We've reached an era in which AI tools can double doctors' critical skills, allowing improved treatment for patients and reduced healthcare costs in general. In the past four years, we've developed the most extensive AI platform on the market. The new partnership with Radiology Partners will accelerate the adoption of the technology in the American market and set a new standard of radiology treatment."
Startup DayTwo was founded based on a groundbreaking study by Weizmann Institute researchers Eran Segal and Eran Elinav, who discovered that identical foods eaten by different people cause different blood sugar responses. This discovery led to a development that is able to predict a person's individual response to sugar in the blood and offer tailor-made dietary recommendations that can help them avoid dangerous blood sugar spikes.
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This innovation drew special attention from American healthcare officials, when a trend began to emerge in which approximately one-third of COVID fatalities in the US turned out to be people who suffered from problems with blood sugar levels.
Adi Lev, Vice President of R&D at DayTwo, said, "We see that our algorithm, written by our developers in Tel Aviv, is leading to significant improvements in the health of our patients, by balancing blood sugar levels, stopping the development of diabetes, and reducing the amount of medication they take, as well as through other parameters.
DayTwo has developed a smartphone app that allows users to plug in the data about planned meals and receive a personalized forecast of possible blood sugar spikes.
"The proven clinical impact is first of all great for business, but also for the developers at the R&D center. For example, this week we heard about a woman who was using the DayTwo program in Michigan who was able to cancel a gastric bypass surgery. We feel like we're creating a product with meaning. This is underscored during COVID, when we know that diabetes is a preexisting condition with high correlation to how seriously the virus affects people," Lev said.
