Leona Health, a promising startup focused on enhancing communication between doctors and patients, has successfully raised $14 million in seed funding. The financing round, led by Andreessen Horowitz, marks a significant milestone for the company, which aims to address the communication challenges faced by doctors across Latin America. Founded by Caroline Merin, Leona Health offers a solution that integrates seamlessly with doctors’ existing WhatsApp accounts, helping them manage patient interactions more effectively.
For as long as she can remember, Caroline Merin has dreamed of one day opening her own business. More recently, she has focused on a big gap in the medical field—a more effective communication system. Through Leona Health, she and her team hope to reduce the tidal wave of requests physicians face each day. Leona Health is the most advanced example to date, already serving doctors in 14 different Latin American countries. Led by an incredible team split across Mexico City and Silicon Valley, they are currently serving 22 different medical specialties.
This is where Leona Health’s innovative solution comes in – with an AI-copilot that helps doctors keep up with patient communications. The service effectively triages healthcare professionals to respond only to the most urgent health requests. This helps them to lower the priority on basic or administrative questions. This strategy reduces the clutter of distractions while giving doctors the power to focus on what really matters— their patients.
Merin expanded on the difficulties physicians now have with inadequate communication channels. She stated, “These poor doctors, they’re receiving requests for very serious medical consults to, ‘I need a letter for my kids’ school,’ or, ‘I want a receipt for my appointment last week.’” By cutting through the clutter of unessential communications, Leona Health allows physicians to focus their time and efforts on what they do best – protecting your health!
Patients on Leona Health will still be able to message on Whatsapp. This easy-to-use platform makes sure their questions are routed and handled smartly by the startup’s custom-built mobile app. By addressing all patient communications through this dual approach, patient satisfaction increases while overall communication is simplified.
In framing the mission behind her healthcare startup, Merin noted that time is a scarce resource for healthcare providers. “The idea is to help the doctor regain time,” she explained. The groundbreaking platform increases real-time communication between physicians. It further protects against burnout by lightening the load of their many, many duties.
Merin further illustrated the difference between the patient experience in Latin America and her own experience as an American. “I thought, as a patient, especially as an American, how incredible that I can text my doctor on WhatsApp, and they’ll respond,” she noted. Leona Health seeks to replicate that convenience for patients across Latin America, all while ensuring doctors get the data they need to make decisions in day-to-day practice.
As Leona Health continues to grow and expand its services across the region, it remains committed to improving the doctor-patient relationship. The startup uses technology to streamline, shorten and simplify the record keeping process. Its purpose is to strengthen healthcare workers and make sure patients are getting timely answers.