Andreessen backs Tennr's $18M round to automate healthcare faxing with AI

Tennr, a startup leveraging AI to modernise faxing with the healthcare industry, has secured $18 million in series A funding led by a16z. The company said its technology is already being used by medical practices across the US to automate various tasks including referral processing, payment posting, claims auditing, and medical record management.  

CEO Trey Holterman noted that although "lots of people can build tools that make admins marginally faster – that just doesn’t move the needle." Instead, Tennr's research team is "building models based around this very complex information flow, being able to parse it for one practice at a time, and then do the work so well that you can turn it into very clear growth for a business."

Legacy technology

Although fax machines are older than telephones and the internet, the healthcare industry still sends 9 billion faxes each year, with many providers and hospitals defaulting to e-faxing for sending or receiving patient records, audit requests, and referrals. According to the startup, this time-consuming process is susceptible to human error and can lead to costly claim denials, while increasing employee burnout. 

When a practice receives a digital fax through email or their electronic health record inbox, Tennr reads the documents and automates the work associated with processing them. This includes extracting important patient information and coordinating with them to schedule appointments. The company additionally operates on both sides of the insurance and provider relationship, automating the flow of information to commercial payers, while reading the returned data. 

Foundation Capital and The New Normal Fund also participated in the round, bringing Tennr's total funding to more than $25 million. The company plans to use the proceeds to grow its team, scale operations, and help organisations automate all fax-related processes.