A new venture backed by local tech veterans and developed with help from one of the region’s largest physician groups is applying an artificial intelligence approach to make better use of doctors’ and nurses’ time.
Polaris Health has been launched out of SwitchPoint Ventures, the firm launched two years ago by Ray Guzman, Damian Mingle and Nolan Rhem, alums of WPC Healthcare and several successor companies. The company’s technology uses algorithms to predict when various providers will be in demand and then lays out the best possible schedules for them. Its backers say it can be applied to any practice area or specialty.
Polaris is being led by Sam Clemmons, an emergency medicine physician who was vice president of business development at American Physician Partners for nearly five years. Clemmons has more than 25 years of industry experience.
“When I was introduced to the Polaris technology, I knew I had to jump on board,” he said in a statement. “As a clinician, I have personally experienced the frustration of being given suboptimal schedules that don’t support a healthy work-life balance. As an operator, I understand the difficulty in balancing care coverage while containing costs.”
The SwitchPoint team fleshed out Polaris’ platform through a partnership with PhyMed Healthcare Group, the multi-state anesthesia services provider. PhyMed CEO Marty Bonick said his team “couldn’t be more impressed with the collaboration with the team and accuracy of the prediction models.”
Polaris already employs about 10 people and is hiring more. Guzman and his SwitchPoint partners remain actively involved in the company, including as board members.
