Truveta, the data startup jointly backed by a cadre of major providers, has announced three new health system members and the close of a $95 million series A funding round.
By bringing Baylor Scott & White Health, MedStar Health and Texas Health Resources into the fold, Truveta said its 17 members now deliver more than 15% of all patient care in the U.S.
“Together, we are hard at work to help researchers find cures faster, empower every clinician to be an expert, and help families know they are receiving the best care for their condition,” Terry Myerson, Truveta CEO and a former Microsoft executive, said in a statement. “We are building an unprecedented data platform and learning community for health. Our members’ data commitment, clinical expertise and strategic capital will help us achieve our vision. We invite others to join us.”
Truveta launched in February under the banner of healthcare giants like Tenet Health, Providence and CommonSpirit.
The Seattle-based startup is building a platform that researchers can use to analyze de-identified and normalized health data contributed by the member organizations. By applying artificial intelligence and machine learning to the data set, the partners are looking to drive new insights in personalized medicine, support research into novel cures for rare or emerging diseases and provide clinicians with a broader range of data points when making a difficult diagnosis.
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Truveta is governed by its health system members, which have said that any earnings they receive from their stake in the startup would be reinvested in their surrounding communities.
The partners have pointed to COVID-19 as an example of how the U.S. health system greater data flow and streamlined medical research. They also highlighted the platform’s opportunity to advance health equity by bringing together a wider set of patient data for underrepresented demographics.
“For more than 20 years as a clinical researcher, I have dreamed of being able to use de-identified data to quickly answer critical questions that immediately advance the health of our patients,” Neil Weissman, M.D., chief scientific officer at MedStar Health, said in a statement. “I’m so proud our team is joining Truveta and excited for the opportunity to transform how we conduct research and advance health with ethical and intelligent use of data.”
Truveta noted in the announcement that each of its new partners has affiliations with academic medical schools and research programs, thereby providing the startup with additional sources of expertise as it builds its data platform.
The systems will also beef up its access to racially and ethnically diverse data—particularly among Black and Hispanic patients—due to the communities they serve.
“Joining this collaborative will benefit the millions of Texans we serve, as it will enable us to leverage national data to advance treatments and discoveries within our communities,” Jim Hinton, CEO of Baylor Scott & White Health, said in a statement. “Medical education is core to our mission, and this collaboration will empower future clinicians and researchers by expanding access to data and knowledge.”
As for the $95 million invested by the members, Truveta said the money would be used to hire technologists and health data experts. It also will be using the funds to cover infrastructure and cloud computing costs it will incur while building the data platform.