At HIMSS23’s Venture Connect event, Holly Maloney, Managing Director of General Catalyst, emphasized the importance of responsible innovation in AI use in healthcare. She stressed the need to build AI systems that are fair, inclusive, reliable, private, secure, and knowledgeable. General Catalyst’s Health Assurance thesis centers on transforming healthcare into a more accessible, quality, cost-effective, and personalized experience. General Catalyst invests in startups that align with its thesis and have strong collaborations and partnerships with healthcare systems.
Healthcare has been a historically fragmented, costly, and reactive system. However, technology offers an opportunity to change this narrative and create a more accessible, quality, cost-effective, and personalized healthcare experience. Artificial intelligence (AI) and automation are increasingly being seen as enablers of this transformation. However, there are concerns about the responsible use of AI and the potential consequences of its adoption in healthcare. Holly Maloney, Managing Director of General Catalyst, shared her thoughts on these issues at the Venture Connect event at HIMSS23. This article will summarize her key points on responsible AI use in healthcare and General Catalyst’s investment considerations.
The Importance of Responsible AI in Healthcare
Maloney emphasized the importance of responsible innovation when it comes to using AI in healthcare. She noted that while technology can drive incredible change, it also comes with great responsibility, especially in the case of AI and automation. The promise of AI has existed for over a decade, but its adoption in healthcare has been slow. Maloney identified a lack of trust as one of the reasons for this slow adoption. Therefore, she stressed the need to build AI systems that are fair, inclusive, reliable, private, secure, and knowledgeable.
Building AI Systems with Potential Consequences in Mind
Maloney also emphasized the importance of understanding the potential consequences of using AI in healthcare and building with those consequences in mind to avoid negative impacts. She noted that the stakes are incredibly high because there is a tremendous amount of super-private information that can be monetized in many ways. Therefore, it is important to consider who will rise on the other side in terms of automation and care pathways.
Health Assurance as a Thesis
Maloney shared that General Catalyst’s thesis revolves around the concept of Health Assurance. Health Assurance is about taking a historically fragmented, super costly, and more reactive healthcare system and transforming it into one that is truly focused on access, quality, lower cost, and personalized proactive experiences. To achieve this, General Catalyst believes that collaborations are needed to go to market.
Investing in Startups that Align with General Catalyst’s Health Assurance Thesis
General Catalyst invests in startups that align with its Health Assurance thesis. Maloney identified responsible innovation as a key characteristic that General Catalyst looks for in a startup. Startups that understand the importance of responsible AI use in healthcare are more likely to attract General Catalyst’s attention. General Catalyst also looks for startups that have strong collaborations and partnerships with healthcare systems.
Integrating Portfolio Companies’ Technology into Healthcare Systems
General Catalyst has developed partnerships with healthcare systems instead of assuming that it needs to fundamentally disrupt the existing infrastructure. However, it can still be challenging to integrate portfolio companies’ technology into big healthcare systems. Maloney highlighted some of the challenges faced, such as getting truly embedded into the workflow, aligning expectations around realistic implementation, and expansion within organizations. Despite these challenges, many companies recognize that establishing partnerships is the best approach for their business model and necessary for scaling operations.
