Company aiming to automate medical coding in radiology raises $47M
Nym, a New York-based company that has created an “autonomous medical coding engine” for radiology and other specialties, has raised $47 million in capital.
PSG, a growth equity firm specializing in software startups, led the funding round with participation from Google Ventures, Samsung Next, Dynamic Loop Capital, and Addition. Nym said its mission is to simplify the U.S. healthcare system while reducing the “outsized” administrative burden on healthcare providers.
Coding activities account for 10% of annual healthcare spending, with providers forced to review a high volume of charts to receive reimbursement, Nym noted. As of this year, about 200,000 medical coders manually handle this task, which can lead to human error, labor shortages, backlogs and delayed payment. The company’s technology uses artificial intelligence and “clinical language understanding” to decipher charts and accurately assign codes “in seconds.”
Founded in 2018, Nym specializes in six healthcare segments including radiology, emergency medicine, outpatient surgery and visits, inpatient professional coding and urgent care. Across its customer base of health systems, hospitals and physician groups, the company has processed over 6 million charts annually.
“We are passionate about helping the U.S. healthcare system operate more efficiently,” CEO Or Peles said in an Oct. 1 announcement. “Across our team of physicians, computational linguists, researchers, engineers and medical coders, we’re energized by the opportunity to deliver AI that creates value for care providers and patients.”
Nym contends that its technology has helped “transform” medical coding, automating the process “without human intervention,” delivering an efficient, more cost-effective solution that outperforms human coders. It claims to have helped clients improve coding accuracy by 95%, reduce related costs by 35%, and cut claims denial rates by 50%.
Peles and colleagues said the investment will allow Nym to accelerate expansion into new specialty areas.
“In our view, autonomous medical coding is the clear direction of travel for the healthcare industry due to the persistent shortage of medical coders and unmitigated costs, among other factors,” Rotem Shacham, MBA, director at Boston-headquartered PSG, said in the same announcement. “We believe Nym is set to maintain its position as a leading autonomous medical coding provider due to its AI-powered engine’s ability to help improve financial performance, operational efficiency, and compliance, enabling providers to focus on patient care.”
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.