LA Startup Procode AI Launches
Los Angeles-based Procode AI has launched from stealth with $4 million in funding and the acquisition of The Auctus Group. The company aims to bring AI-powered revenue cycle management (RCM) to private practice surgeons, starting with plastic surgery and dermatology.
The leadership team at Procode AI combines expertise from the medical, technology, and business worlds. Co-founder Dr. Kameron Rezzadeh is a board-certified plastic surgeon with a medical degree from Rutgers and residency at UCLA. His co-founders are Jeff Cripe, who was on the Forbes 30 Under 30 for consumer technology, and James Baez-Silva. The acquisition of The Auctus Group is a strategic move to gain an immediate foothold in the target market. The Auctus Group is a specialized billing company for plastic surgeons and a top-three biller for dermatology practices in the U.S. This provides Procode AI with an established client base and deep industry knowledge. The company's technology aims to address significant inefficiencies in the medical billing process. Procode AI's "Coding Copilot" is designed to make medical coding 90% faster and more accurate by translating surgical reports into the necessary billing and diagnostic codes. This automation of revenue cycle management (RCM) is a growing trend in healthcare to reduce administrative burdens and claim denials. The $4 million in funding was led by Story Ventures, a venture capital firm that focuses on companies using machine intelligence and data to solve complex problems. Other investors include CHAP Health Ventures, Progression Fund, and Dmitry Shevelenko, the Chief Business Officer of Perplexity.
