UCSF Health, Kleiner Perkins, and Doerr Capital have launched UCSF Health Converge, a new healthcare AI accelerator that connects select companies with clinicians, operators, and technology leaders to build, validate, and scale AI solutions in real-world healthcare delivery settings.
Centered on an “inside-out” approach, UCSF Health Converge selects a small number of companies each year to co-develop tools with UCSF Health experts within workflows, technology systems, and operational realities to determine whether their innovations can successfully address enterprise-level health system challenges and improve patient and care team experiences at scale.
Clinicians, operators, technical teams, and standards shape the solution, and once it can demonstrate value within its environment, it can meet the needs of the broader health system.
Suresh Gunasekaran, President and CEO, UCSF Health
UCSF Health recognizes that future health systems will require better tools for care teams, better support for patients, and a clear path to using AI responsibly to improve care. Realizing that promise will require solving one of the healthcare industry’s toughest technological challenges. It’s a way to build enterprise-grade, patient-centric, clinically effective AI solutions in one of the nation’s most complex and highly regulated environments.
“Healthcare doesn’t need more AI tools to find use cases,” said Suresh Gunasekaran, president and CEO of UCSF Health. “We need solutions that are built around the true needs of our patients, their care teams, and the systems responsible for delivering care. At UCSF Health, we hold ourselves to the highest standards for our patients, and we expect the same from the tools we deploy into our system. UCSF Health Converge is one way we’re ensuring that happens.”
The accelerator will focus on solutions that align with UCSF Health’s standards of clinical excellence, safety, reliability, equity, and patient-centered care. Success is measured by impact within the healthcare system, including whether the solution can improve patient care, fit into existing workflows, be adopted by healthcare teams, and scale responsibly across specialties and practices.
The program is led by UCSF Health in collaboration with Kleiner Perkins and Doerr Capital and will provide investment support and hands-on guidance to selected companies. Their experience building and scaling healthcare technology companies, along with their founder network and market perspective, complements UCSF Health’s expertise in clinical care, health system operations, and large-scale care delivery.
“Healthcare is one of the most important areas where AI can improve lives,” said John Doerr, Chairman of Kleiner Perkins and Founder of Doerr Capital. “UCSF Health Converge can improve patient care by addressing the real-world needs of clinical teams and environments. Its purpose-built approach gives us a window into the many ways AI can serve humanity.”
Building a different place for care
Many healthcare AI solutions are developed outside of the clinical environments they are intended to serve. Companies can spend significant time and resources building products that are difficult to integrate, difficult to adopt, or not aligned with clinical and operational workflows. Health systems will then evaluate tools that may have promise but are not yet ready for enterprise deployment.
“Healthcare founders don’t need to be any further removed from the real world. They need to be closer to the clinicians, healthcare professionals, patients, and the systems that ultimately decide whether their products matter,” said Mamoon Hamid, a partner at Kleiner Perkins. “UCSF Health Converge provides companies with that environment from day one: direct, structured engagement with the world’s leading health systems and a clear mission to build AI that can move from promise to practice at scale.”
Even if the tools appear viable, a complete health system evaluation process, including clinical, technical, financial, and compliance reviews, IT integration, and staff workflow planning, can take a year or more. Once a tool enters a clinical environment, it is often limited to a few settings and rarely scaled across the enterprise. These barriers are not new, and in the age of AI, where risks to safety, reliability, and impact are even greater, healthcare organizations may tread even more cautiously.
UCSF Health Converge is designed to meet fit-for-purpose challenges by helping companies build with implementation in mind from the beginning. Each project is based on real-world care delivery needs and sponsored by UCSF Health operational leaders. Companies co-develop solutions with multidisciplinary teams across clinical care, operations, analytics and IT, with specialized support for technology integration, project management, governance and evaluation.
“Using this model, UCSF Health will not have the antibody response that many health systems have to AI solutions, because UCSF Health DNA is present in every product delivered through UCSF Health Converge,” Gunasekaran added. “For the founders, building in this way creates a level of trust that is difficult to achieve from the outside. If the solution is shaped by our clinicians, operators, technical teams, and standards, and can demonstrate value within our environment, we will be able to meet the needs of the broader health system.”
UCSF Health Converge will initially focus on two high-potential areas where AI can improve care delivery and patient experience. Improve care delivery within hospitals and clinics. The first area involves using AI to identify patient needs early, improve communication, and help patients navigate their care. Second, it helps clinical and operational teams overcome information overload and make better decisions by applying applications to clinical decision support, documentation, billing, care planning, and other operational processes that shape the care experience.
Elizabeth Engel, vice president of UCSF Health, will serve as executive director of UCSF Health Converge. Engel brings deep experience in healthcare technology, policy, strategy, and partnerships, including leadership roles in digital health companies, large technology platforms, and across the University of California system.
Now accepting applications
Applications are now being accepted for the first cohort of UCSF Health Converge. The program is open to companies at various stages, from early-stage startups to established organizations looking to co-develop and scale solutions within UCSF Health.
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