#How this Berlin startup deploys AI to make preventative healthcare accessible

A proprietary algorithm then analyses the results and provides a comprehensive risk assessment, including probability and factors impacting each risk. The app also provides practical advice on how to mitigate said risks, based on scientific evidence. 

“It’s not just a sheet of different values, and then a thumbs up, like you’re okay or you’re not okay, and that’s it,” Eliseeva says. “We put together a very comprehensive risk assessment that allows you to understand what your actual risks are. What do I need to pay attention to? And for every risk that we identify, we show the probability and the factors that impact that risk.” 

Unlike the doctor’s office, or by employing the services of a test lab, the user doesn’t just receive the numbers, but the algorithm also takes lifestyle into account to determine what the specific numbers mean to each individual in terms of risk. 

“Our goal is preventative medicine that is not just statistics,” Eliseevea continues. “It’s not about having a 10% chance of developing something. It’s more like ‘what do I have to care for, in order for me to stay healthy?’” 

‘Explosive demand’ from corporates

 HealthCaters offers their services to corporates that can set up health screening days for employees with the portable boxes and access to the app with personalised plans. Customers include the likes of IBM, WeWork, and Barmenia. Furthermore, the startup just opened up its first centre for the public in Berlin (prices start at €39). 

“We are seeing explosive demand from corporates right now,” Eliseeva says, adding that the company signed three new clients last month — no small thing for a startup its size. 

“Usually we do it in the framework of a health day or health week, which means we go there and we set up, and employees can book slots. They come to the health case, and they can do the screening themselves,” Dr Kruse explains. “So it’s completely self-managed.” 

Sometimes, the process is arranged by an insurance company that acts as the intermediary, which also allows corporations to lower premiums for employee insurance. 

Growing a team that understands tech for health

While any startup in preventative or diagnostic healthcare over the past few years may have had to battle the ghost of Theranos in the minds of investors, HealthCaters recently secured $1.2mn in seed funding led by Barmenia Next Strategies. They will use the funds to expand the team, both on the tech and operational business side, as well as “double down” on the product.

“It’s so important to make sure that there is a strong team behind your tech that understands at what point and how to take all this technology [generative AI] in, and to implement it without jeopardising the actual essence of the product,” Eliseeva says. “Because it’s not tech for tech, right? It’s tech for health.” 

Lack of accessibility increases anxiety

The company has also held pop-up events throughout Europe. Circling back to the Dutch healthcare system we referenced earlier in this article, when HealthCaters held an event in Amsterdam earlier this year, the audience was in parts unexpected. 

“You always think that out-of-pocket expenses for health care is something that is upper-middle class territory. But many of the people who came to us were taxi drivers,” Eliseeva retells the experience.

“And they said, ‘Well, I tried to have a doctor’s appointment, they asked me to wait for three months. When I finally went, it was over in literally two minutes. They looked at me and said — you’re okay, why are you here?’ They said that it makes them very anxious, and this word, anxious, is repeated by so many people we talk to [in relation to healthcare].” 

The company has plans to further integrate the product with wearables and data such as genetic screenings and family history. With so much personal medical data being involved, I cannot help but ask about privacy and security. Eliseeva highlights that it was not something she and Dr Kruse would ever cut corners on as it is a “cornerstone” of the product. 

“Before we hired a single person, we already asked ourselves, how are we going to deal with data security? We even interviewed on the basis of what they would do with this data,” she stated, further adding that the company runs its own trial audits, and is passing on every single criteria.