#58, Using AI to Transform Medical Documentation, DeepScribe's Akilesh Bapu

Aug 9, 2023

Akilesh Bapu, Co-Founder & CEO of DeepScribe, discusses transforming medical documentation with AI. DeepScribe uses supervised and unsupervised machine learning techniques to enable physicians to spend more time with patients. Their go-to-market strategy targets private practices and large health systems. Maintaining a 'human in the loop' is crucial to accuracy and managing algorithmic bias in AI systems.

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Introduction

00:00 • 2min

The Importance of Accurate Data in Machine Learning Progress

02:20 • 20min

Supervised and Unsupervised Machine Learning and the Role of Scribes at DeepScribe

22:27 • 2min

Scaling the Scribe Force and Balancing Model Accuracy

24:50 • 2min

Starting scrappy and the fundraising journey

27:16 • 5min

Adopting AI in Healthcare: Challenges and Opportunities

32:41 • 3min

In this episode, host Alex Merwin, Head of Growth for Healthcare & Life Science Startups, welcomes Akilesh Bapu, the Co-Founder & CEO of DeepScribe, an AI medical scribe company revolutionizing medical documentation. DeepScribe, trusted by both large and small healthcare systems across America, brings passion and determination to provide the most trustworthy AI medical scribe available, aiming to bring the joy of care back to medicine.

We discuss the details of DeepScribe's AI-based approach to transform medical documentation. From using both supervised and unsupervised machine learning techniques and large language models, DeepScribe is focused on enabling physicians to spend more time with their patients rather than on manual note-taking.

Further, we explore DeepScribe's go-to-market strategy. Starting with an inbound heavy approach targeting private practices, DeepScribe then expanded to sell into large health systems. This approach has helped the company position itself as a leading AI medical scribe.

Finally, we discuss one of the most critical aspects of AI application in healthcare settings: maintaining a 'human in the loop'. Ensuring the accuracy of AI systems and managing algorithmic bias is critical, and DeepScribe has managed to integrate this principle into their business and product.

[01:44] Akileh's background as an AI researcher and what brought him to founding DeepScribe.
[04:46] How DeepScribe thinks about AI and how it's solutions works.
[08:40] Physician burnout and why we need more efficient tooling, and the importance of having humans in the loop to accurately ground truth data.
[14:41] How DeepScribe used an SEM/SEO driven inbound GTM strategy to grow market segment share with private practice, later expanding into health systems.
[17:22] How giving time back to physicians improves their work life harmony, benefitting them, their patients and the health system more broadly.
[19:41] DeepScribe's approach to managing the tradeoffs between individualizing care and perpetuating systemic bias which can be a challenge for AI systems.
[22:47] How DeepScribe leverages both supervised & unsupervised learning, and how "scribes" help them ground truth data at scale.
[28:27] How DeepScribe approached its different rounds of financing, from pre-seed to Series B.
[32:28] What keeps Akilesh up at night.

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