STAT+: Inside a $7 billion Silicon Valley startup’s mad dash to automate the business of health care
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- Commure offers thousands of dollars in compensation to medical clinics and other parties who refer its AI products to new business prospects, according to internal documents reviewed by STAT.
- Commure CEO Tanay Tandon said he wants "a world where the market cap of a UnitedHealth is a fifth, but every doctor is a millionaire," framing the startup as taking money and power from insurers and redistributing it to physicians.
- Some of Commure's customers report suffering steep financial losses and other negative outcomes, a contrast to the marketing testimonials from satisfied users featured in the company's videos and podcasts.
- Commure claims its AI tools for billing, scheduling, and clinical documentation are used by more than 500 healthcare organizations, including 130 of the nation's largest health systems such as HCA Healthcare and Tenet Healthcare.
- Commure says its referral compensation programs are "industry standard" and that the vast majority of its hundreds of customers are happy with its products and services.
- Founded in 2020 in Mountain View, Calif., Commure is currently valued at $7 billion with Y Combinator among its investors; STAT notes AI is a powerful and rapidly changing technology whose real-world impact is hard to evaluate.
Why it matters: Commure's referral incentives layered onto a fast-selling AI product that some customers say is costing them money creates an unusual risk profile for healthcare buyers, because the financial incentives to recommend the tool are detached from whether it actually improves clinical or financial outcomes for the practices deploying it.
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