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Tech Veterans Tackle Healthcare’s Broken Appointment System
Three technology and healthcare veterans are bringing Silicon Valley efficiency to one of medicine’s most persistent problems: the chaotic process of scheduling medical appointments. Sage Care, founded by former Uber mapping executive Justin Ho, iPhone co-inventor Chris Blumenberg, and emergency physician Dr. Caesar Djavaherian, is emerging from stealth with $20 million in funding to build what they describe as an “air traffic control system” for healthcare navigation.
The startup’s approach represents a significant shift in how healthcare navigation technology addresses systemic inefficiencies. As highlighted in a recent industry analysis of healthcare navigation platforms, the problem extends beyond simple scheduling to encompass the entire patient journey from referral to treatment completion. “Prior to the advent of Uber, if you wanted transportation you needed to call a central system and they would find the taxi closest to you and assign that one,” Ho told Forbes. “That’s the state of healthcare today.”
The Founding Team’s Unique Perspective
The Sage Care team brings together diverse expertise from transportation technology, consumer electronics, and clinical medicine. Ho previously quarterbacked Uber’s self-driving and mapping strategy before cofounding rideOS with Blumenberg, who helped invent the iPhone. Their technical backgrounds in routing and dispatch systems proved surprisingly relevant to healthcare’s navigation challenges.
Dr. Djavaherian, an emergency physician and former chief clinical innovation officer at digital health startup Carbon Health, provided the clinical perspective. “As soon as he met us, he had already pattern-matched our backgrounds with how broken care navigation is in healthcare,” Ho said. The physician had been documenting healthcare navigation problems for months when Ho experienced them firsthand when his newborn daughter needed repeated hospital readmissions for jaundice treatment.
Addressing Systemic Healthcare Inefficiencies
The scale of the problem Sage Care aims to solve is substantial. Healthcare administration accounts for an estimated 15% to 30% of all medical spending, with navigation problems creating bottlenecks throughout the system. Patients face months-long wait times for specialists while healthcare providers struggle with no-shows, last-minute cancellations, and mismatched appointments.
“Why is there so much waste and capacity when there are patients waiting for months to be seen? It’s a massive problem for the health system,” Djavaherian explained. The founders conducted what they called a “grand tour” of American hospitals, speaking with 57 health systems before concluding that their transportation routing expertise could be adapted to healthcare’s unique challenges.
Funding and Growth Strategy
Sage Care has secured $20 million in funding at a valuation of approximately $90 million. The recent $12 million round was led by Reed Jobs’ Yosemite, with previous seed funding from General Catalyst. The company has already signed several healthcare organizations as customers, including Jiva Health in California, Bronson Healthcare in Michigan, and White Plains Hospital in New York.
The startup expects to generate modest revenue this year, projecting potential growth to $5 million by 2026. Their approach differs from other AI healthcare administration companies by focusing on reinventing the entire navigation process rather than simply modernizing existing systems. This comprehensive strategy appears to be gaining traction in a market where healthcare technology valuations face increasing scrutiny from investors seeking sustainable solutions.
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Technology Approach and Competitive Landscape
While numerous startups are applying AI to healthcare administration, Sage Care’s founders believe their system represents a fundamental rethinking of how patient navigation should work. Rather than simply creating better chatbots to handle calls—an approach taken by companies like Assort Health and Hello Patient—Sage Care is building an integrated platform that optimizes the entire patient journey.
“We looked at a number of companies doing healthcare voice AI,” said Yosemite’s Matt Bettonville. “A lot of those were saying, ‘We’ll take those legacy robocalls and modernize them with technology.’ This was the first team to come in and say, ‘We will reinvent the whole process.’” This comprehensive approach mirrors developments in other sectors where industrial technology platforms are transforming complex operational challenges through integrated systems.
Broader Industry Implications
The healthcare navigation problem Sage Care addresses reflects larger inefficiencies throughout the medical system. As the founders discovered during their research, without sophisticated technology, call center operators “cannot possibly make the best decision” when matching patients with providers. “There’s too many patients and too many providers, and they are on the phone with a patient and under pressure,” explained Blumenberg, who serves as the company’s chief technology officer.
The potential impact extends beyond patient convenience to substantial financial improvements for healthcare providers. Ho estimates that Sage’s technology could help health systems reduce administrative waste to generate 15% to 20% more revenue while simultaneously improving patient care. This efficiency gain could prove crucial as healthcare organizations face increasing budget pressures and seek technological solutions to maintain service quality while controlling costs.
Future Outlook and Industry Transformation
Sage Care enters a rapidly evolving healthcare technology landscape where digital transformation is becoming increasingly essential. The company’s approach of applying transportation logistics principles to healthcare navigation represents an innovative cross-industry application of technology expertise. Their progress will be closely watched by an industry struggling with capacity constraints and patient access challenges.
As healthcare continues its digital transformation, solutions that address fundamental operational inefficiencies—similar to how communication platforms are revolutionizing other service industries—are likely to see growing demand. For Sage Care, the challenge will be scaling their platform while maintaining the precision and reliability required in healthcare settings, where scheduling errors can have serious consequences for patient outcomes.
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