Technology firm that helps hospitals root out radiologists’ errors raises $9M

A San Francisco-based technology firm that helps hospitals root out radiologists’ mistakes has just raised $9 million in additional funding.

Ferrum Health announced its latest round of investment on Thursday, April 9, with Blumberg Capital the leading contributor. The company offers an artificial intelligence platform that serves as a safety net to help spot missed cancer diagnoses.

“Ferrum's mission is to eliminate avoidable harm across all of healthcare, and this capital will be instrumental to further building out and scaling our platform to more health systems and patients," Pelu Tran, co-founder and CEO, said in a statement. "With this seed funding, Ferrum will focus on rapidly expanding the number of patient lives and types of medical errors our AI patient safety platform covers.

Sutter Health, in Sacramento, California, has deployed Ferrum’s as an AI-powered peer reviewer of lung CT scans. The 24-hospital system reported in February that the tool had already reviewed about 10,000 images, flagging 83 for additional radiologist review. The system operates by deploying computer-vision algorithms to assess radiologic images, seeking out commonly missed pathologies, such as lung nodules or fractures. It then correlates its own findings with physicians’ notes, notching those that would require follow-up from hospital quality-control officers.

Officials said this new round of funding will go toward refining its flagship AI platform, hiring new members on its engineering team, and growing its sales and marketing capabilities. Others contributing to the seed funding included GSR Ventures, Vulcan Capital and Valley Capital Partners.”