A startup that aims to use artificial intelligence to improve the field of radiology has been acquired.
Covera Health, a company based in New York, announced Wednesday its acquisition of CoRead, a firm founded by a Durham-based radiologist.
Lawrence Ngo formed CoRead after completing a radiology residency at Duke University. While at the university, Ngo connected with the company's co-founder, Jacob Johnson, and became interested in how artificial intelligence and algorithms could be used to build workflows that ultimately improve the quality of radiological services.
Early on, CoRead, through a partnership with a large radiology practice, built algorithms that were used to review radiology cases. The company was able to identify a large number of blood clots in patients' lungs that were missed by providers. The result surprised both CoRead and the radiology practice, Ngo said.
CoRead continued to build on this momentum, reaching more than 2,000 hospital sites nationwide. With the acquisition, the company is prepared to scale even further.
Ngo said Covera and CoRead are two of the only companies focused on improving quality in radiology, rather than other areas of the field like improving efficiencies. With this shared focused, the companies began speaking about a year ago on how to work together more strategically.
The companies ultimately found that they could have a larger impact on the market by coming together, said Covera CEO Ron Vianu.
The companies declined to disclose financial details of the transaction.
As part of the deal, Ngo has joined Covera as its senior vice president of quality assurance platform. CoRead's other five to six employees will also join Covera, which has a headcount of more than 100.
Both companies bring different pieces, with Covera having strong relationships with payers, employers and provider organizations, plus a foundation with artificial intelligence and data science, Ngo said. Meanwhile, CoRead has built algorithms that can be deployed at scale to help flag misdiagnosis on medical examinations. The goal is that by bringing these capabilities together, the companies are able to help improve patient care nationwide.
Concurrent to the acquisition, Covera announced it has closed a funding round of up to $50 million. CoRead in 2021 closed on more than $1 million in equity financing from three investors.
