Access to the Best Medical Care, No Matter Where You Live; Introducing AmplifyMD

Medical specialists are a critical part of a hospital's ability to serve its patients – hematologists for leukemias, infectious disease specialists for insect-borne illnesses, neurologists for stroke. Yet specialities ranging from cardiology to psychiatry are in short supply at hospitals across the country, especially those outside of major urban centers.

Of the approximately 6,000 hospitals in the United States, more than half have a shortage of specialists – missing three or more key specialists – and the vast majority have a gap in at least one important specialty.

Over one million patient transfers occur annually when hospitals are missing the right doctors to treat patients with conditions like sepsis, stroke, insect-borne illnesses, or kidney disease, all of which specialists with specific skill sets. In addition to forcing susceptible patients to travel farther from their homes to find care, hospitals serving local communities also lose over $17B in revenue each year transferring patients that, with AmplifyMD, they otherwise would not need to send away.

Forerunner is proud to announce our investment in the team at AmplifyMD, a telemedicine platform that connects medical hospitals/facilities–with a particular focus on rural locales–to medical specialists they need to deliver inpatient specialty care. Forerunner led the company’s Seed round alongside Greylock, and we are thrilled to begin working with F-Prime Capital, who joins us as AmplifyMD’s Series A lead.

The AmplifyMD platform consists of three core components: 1) a network of the most in-demand specialists, 2) hardware-agnostic software and a web app that allows for in-hospital access to real-time, remote specialist consults, and 3) added software that alleviates the burden of regulatory and compliance for health systems and physicians.

This three-pronged approach creates a turnkey telemedicine solution for hospitals that can support the facilities with the highest needs– largely neglected by current vendors due to limited resources. At the same time, specialists gain the ability to serve patients they would never otherwise reach at attractive rates, while also holding more control over their workloads.  

Early results are extremely promising. The company has now onboarded over 20 hospitals onto its platform and has a strong pipeline slated for 2022. Hospitals using AmplifyMD saw a 60-80% reduction in transfers, as well as 20-30% reduction in 30-day readmissions. The platform is truly beneficial for both patients and providers.

AmplifyMD is led by Co-Founders Meena Mallippeddi and Anand Nathan. Meena was inspired to launch the company after many years of working on the business side of the healthcare industry, where there was an obvious lack of specialty care among rural and small hospitals. Anand spent his career in executive strategy, operations, and finance roles across major tech companies. He was driven to use technology to make medical care more accessible to locales like his rural hometown.

Over the years, we at Forerunner have often asked ourselves: What services are truly needed by consumers of all kinds? Which populations have the greatest need? It became abundantly clear during the pandemic that medical care is of paramount importance – and everyone should have access to it, no matter who they are or where they live.