The AI-based health service startup, Babylon Health, announced a $550 million deal in August. Now, it’s using the money with a wide range of products. The company has undergone a 10-year deal with the city of Wolverhampton in the UK. The main aim of the startup is to create a health app for the residents of the city.
Currently, the company hasn’t disclosed the financial terms of the deal. However, Babylon clarified that NHS isn’t getting a stake in the startup. The company plans to introduce the test version of the app by the end of 2020.
Babylon is famous for building the AI platform that diagnoses the patients’ issues. The Babylon services are a complement to actual clinicians. The main idea is that AI can be used to maximize system potential. Moreover, the best-known work for Babylon is a chatbot it built for NHS. Furthermore, it worked with many private businesses on their employee healthcare services. It is also about to start its services in 11 countries in Asia.
Due to these milestones, Babylon has obtained a $2 billion valuation. Moreover, the latest product of the company will be to combine the primary medical care and hospitals into an all-in-one app.
Ali Parsa, the CEO, and co-founder of Babylon said in an interview, “We are extremely excited about this partnership with RWT, which will benefit the NHS and the patients. We have thousands of experts that will help to make Digital-First integrated care a reality. We will also work with RWT to show that it works and help the healthcare systems across the world.”
The main plan is for the Royal Wolverhampton NHS and Babylon to work together to create an app that provides a remote diagnosis. However, it should also treat patients with chronic conditions and connect them with doctors remotely.
Some other services include the facility of letting patients access their medical records and review consultations, renew prescriptions, book appointments, and get a rehab after the procedure of illness.
The populations of different countries are multiplying, and people are generally living longer. So, this puts a strain on healthcare services. This is a major theme of Babylon’s home market in the UK, where healthcare faces human capital shortages. The main aim of the startup is to fill in the healthcare gap for the population. However, the company aims to create services that help people to live, for example, providing them services to save them from coming to the hospital.
The company wants to improve healthcare and medicine in two areas; providing the diagnosis and other services to the patients. Moreover, they are acting the roles that are played by humans. In research, the company aims to provide a platform for complex calculations for disease pathology and better drug discovery.
Seeing the problems in the health system, the startups and investors have jumped into AI to provide efficient and better outcomes. However, all outcomes haven’t been successful. Moreover, Google’s DeepMind got into a major controversy regarding how it handles the patient data.
Paul Bate, who is Babylon’s MD of NHS services, said that Babylon cares about patient privacy and consent. However, he didn’t comment on how the company would retain the data but noted that it would become clear once the app launches.
