< + > Mentaily Raises $3M in Seed Funding to Transform Psychiatric Intervention Through AI-Powered Diagnosis and Support

GenAI Platform LIV Delivers Personal and Accurate Mental Health Response, Expanding the Pipeline of Pioneering Technologies from ARC at Sheba Medical Center

Mentaily, the creator of AI-powered tools for mental health assessment, triage, and diagnosis of mental disorders, announced today the closing of a $3 million seed funding round. The round was led by a US-based family office and Israeli family offices, with participation from impact funds The Rashi Foundation and Sheatufim, and prominent digital health angel investors.

Founded in 2024, Mentaily aims to address complex mental health needs emerging in times of crisis and trauma. The company’s first AI-powered product, LIV, simulates clinical psychiatric intake sessions and helps diagnose psychological distress and mental illness, with high accuracy.

Mental health conditions are on the rise globally, yet support remains limited. In the United States alone, an estimated one in five people are affected by mental health issues, while over 120 million Americans live in areas with inadequate mental health services, highlighting the urgent need for new technologies to augment existing mental health interventions.

The AI platform supports multilingual, natural-language conversations through voice or text, optionally featuring AI avatar to deliver a personalized and scalable approach to mental health triage. The technology was created as a joint effort between ARC (Accelerate, Redesign, Collaborate) Innovation Center and the Drora and Pinchas Zakai Department of Psychiatry at Sheba Medical Center, along with Microsoft and KPMG.

In addition to serving the general population, LIV supports security forces through collaborations with the Directorate of Defense Research & Development (DDR&D) and Israel’s Ministry of Defense—addressing the needs of a population often affected by high stress and prolonged trauma. Future versions of the platform will be customized for additional populations, including children, adolescents, and women.

Already in use across hospitals, HMOs, rehabilitation centers, and government organizations across Israel, the new funding will support ongoing development and drive expansion both locally and into select international markets. Mentaily was founded by Iris Shtein, who serves as the company’s CEO, Guy Yachin, a serial Israeli-American entrepreneur, and senior clinicians from Sheba Medical Center: Prof. Mark Weiser, Dr. Asaf Caspi, and Dr. Daniel Cohen. The company is actively recruiting to support its expansion.

“At Mentaily, our mission goes beyond innovation—it’s about solving real-world challenges in mental health care,” said Iris Shtein, Co-Founder and CEO at Mentaily. “LIV enables real-time detection of deterioration and high-risk situations, allowing clinical teams to intervene early, with precision. By supporting clinical decision-making and optimizing workforce allocation, we help address the global shortage of mental health professionals. Our scalable platform not only enhances access and accuracy but also empowers systems to prioritize care where it’s needed most, transforming psychiatric triage at a national and global level.”

“LIV is a prime example of innovation born from clinicians on the ground, developed through collaboration with additional players in the ecosystem: developers, international tech leaders, and business strategists,” said Prof. Eyal Zimlichman, Founder and Director at ARC, Chief Transformation and Chief AI Officer at Sheba Medical Center. “LIV’s ability to identify, prioritize, and assess mental health conditions with accuracy and empathy makes it a promising tool for health systems worldwide. Another successful digital health platform in our growing portfolio, the solution is well aligned with ARC’s multi-faceted approach of responsibly and effectively developing and integrating AI into workflows of health systems globally.”

About Mentaily

Mentaily was founded in 2024 by Iris Shtein (CEO), Guy Yachin, Prof. Mark Weiser, Dr. Asaf Caspi, and Dr. Daniel Cohen, with a mission to improve access to mental health services through technology that enables an accessible, personalized, and empathetic diagnostic process.

The company was created out of world-renowned Sheba Medical Center with the belief that addressing Israel’s mental health crisis, particularly in regions affected by trauma, can create a model for other countries. The name LIV symbolizes life, resilience, and recovery in response to the aftermath of the October 7th attacks. Mentaily’s approach combines personalized medicine, advanced technology, and sensitivity, with the goal of delivering an empathetic solution that is accessible worldwide.

About ARC

ARC (Accelerate, Redesign, Collaborate), the innovation arm of Sheba Medical Center, founded and directed by Prof. Eyal Zimlichman, is shaping the future of medical innovation by connecting entrepreneurs and clinicians, advancing the development and implementation of new technologies, and creating breakthrough economic frameworks in healthcare. ARC’s unique model—the first of its kind in global healthcare—has evolved into a global blueprint, with a network of innovation centers in leading hospitals and research institutions across London, Melbourne, Singapore, Berlin, and New Zealand. ARC’s global network promotes technology-based medical solutions and accelerates the adoption of innovation within health systems worldwide.

ARC provides startups and researchers with exclusive access to Sheba’s core assets, clinical data, and medical talent, while advancing the hospital’s vision to serve as a global hub for AI-driven medicine. The model’s success has already led to exits totaling approximately $1 billion, with profits reinvested to further accelerate Sheba’s AI and data revolution.

About Sheba Medical Center

The largest and most comprehensive medical center in the Middle East, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer is generating global impact through its medical care, research, and AI-based healthcare transformation. Sheba’s City of Health boasts acute-care, rehabilitation, children’s, cancer, and geriatric hospitals, research and innovation hubs, medical simulation center, center for disaster response, and a virtual hospital on one comprehensive campus in the center of Israel. Sheba serves as a true hospital without borders, welcoming patients and healthcare professionals from all over the world and consistently providing the highest-level medical care to all in need. For more information, visit sheba-global.com

Originally announced May 12th, 2025

< + > How this Taiwanese hospital enhances supply chain management with advanced analytics

Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou, one of Taiwan's leading healthcare institutions, has been validated for Stage 6 of the HIMSS AMAM.

< + > Epic says providers are sharing widely through its TEFCA QHIN

More than 1,000 hospitals and 22,000 clinics are now exchanging patient data through Epic Nexus, the EHR giant's health information network operating under the national interoperability framework.

< + > CIO Podcast – Episode 96: The Role of CIOs with Christopher Kunney

For the 96th episode of the CIO podcast hosted by Healthcare IT Today, we are joined by Christopher Kunney, Managing Partner at IOTECH Consulting, to talk about the role of CIOs! We kick this episode off by discussing how the role of CIO has changed since Kunney first started. Then we talk about the skills CIOs need to develop today. Next, we take the opposite approach and discuss what has not changed about the role of CIOs. We then take a look at some areas of healthcare, such as health equity, SDoH, and techequity, to debate how CIOs should be approaching them. Next, we talk about whether healthcare organizations should be worried about new care delivery models, startups, and shifts to value based care. We then talk about how those topics will change healthcare. Kunney then shares with us some of the lessons he’s learned doing the Straight Outta Health IT podcast. Lastly, we conclude this episode with a helpful lesson for CIOs and aspiring CIOs that Kunney got from his father.

Here’s a look at the questions and topics we discuss in this episode:

• How has the role of CIO changed since you first started and what skills do CIOs need to develop today?
• What’s something that hasn’t changed when it comes to being a healthcare CIO?
• How should a CIO be approaching areas such as health equity, SDoH, and techequity?
• Should healthcare organizations be worried about new care delivery models, startups, and shifts to value based care? How will those change healthcare?
• What are some of the lessons you’ve learned doing the Straight Outta Health IT podcast?
• What lesson did you get from your father that would be helpful to CIOs and aspiring CIOs?

Now, without further ado, we’re excited to share with you the next episode of the CIO Podcast by Healthcare IT Today.

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Listen to the Latest Episodes

< + > Redefining Patient Care: Three Ways to Combat Physician Burnout with Clinical Decision Support

The following is a guest article by McKinley Glover, IV, MD, MHS, Vice President, Clinical Decision Support at Optum Insight

After spending nearly 20 years in healthcare, I’ve seen firsthand the surge in clinician burnout, driven by workforce shortages and administrative tasks. By 2037, the United States is projected to experience a shortage of 124,000 physicians.

Clinicians are estimated to spend up to 28 hours per week on work that takes them away from direct patient care. Primary care providers are particularly impacted by this dynamic, spending a staggering 60% of their time on non-patient-facing tasks such as managing electronic health records (EHRs) and paperwork. The growing demands of administrative duties result in physicians working after hours, leading to higher burnout and reduced job satisfaction. In fact, 23% are considering leaving the profession due to these stressors.

Healthcare is on the brink of a major transformation. Providers want to practice medicine effectively, and patients seek timely and efficient care. We are witnessing a significant shift toward value-based care models, a promising step to restore workforce balance and ensure providers and patients thrive in a more efficient and supportive healthcare environment. By focusing on preventative care, quality, and outcomes, value-based care minimizes redundant responsibilities associated with fee-for-service models. We need to equip providers with advanced clinical decision support tools (CDS) to help them deliver the best possible care.

Three key approaches are enabling clinicians to dedicate more time to patients and improve the healthcare experience.

Streamlining Healthcare Operations Through AI-Enabled Automation

Many physicians identify artificial intelligence (AI) as a tool to improve work efficiency and reduce stress. As AI becomes more integral in healthcare, it has the ability to drive improvements by delivering information to clinicians to support diagnosis and treatment recommendations.

Advancements in ambient listening and real-time documentation are making a big impact. In a recent survey on AI adoption in health care, 36% of respondents identified transcribing patient notes as the most valuable application.

Providers are also using AI and automation to extract real-time clinical data from EHRs, eliminating the need to search through extensive data to find relevant information. This patient-specific clinical information enhances the ability to leverage evidence-based practices to improve shared decision-making. A study found that AI-based EHR systems reduced the time clinicians spent on data retrieval by 30%, allowing them to focus more on patient care.

As AI continues to gain momentum in healthcare, operations is one area where we’re seeing progress, with 85% of healthcare leaders exploring generative AI capabilities to improve operations.

To deliver quality care amid increasingly complex patient conditions, we should use AI equitably and responsibly. It should inform, not replace, clinical decision-making, patient autonomy, and the provider-patient relationships.

Managing Chronic Conditions with Evidence-Based Decision Support

Staying up to date with the latest medical guidelines and effectively integrating this knowledge into practice can be challenging for healthcare providers. Over the past decade, approximately 500 new therapies were approved by the FDA, and there are now over 20,000 total drug therapies available. In addition to understanding current recommendations, identifying patients who could benefit from optimized medication regimens and supporting them in adhering to their prescriptions makes delivering best-practice care incredibly complex.

CDS tools help physicians stay current with clinical practices and navigate the ever-evolving landscape of diagnostic and therapeutic options. These systems integrate vast amounts of data and provide evidence-based, real-time recommendations at the point of care. For example, they can alert providers to patient-specific opportunities to optimize therapy based on the latest research and guidelines. CDS has been shown to reduce prescription errors by up to 55%, ensuring physicians make safer and more effective choices for their patients.

They also enable the identification of at-risk populations and support chronic disease management by optimizing treatment plans for patients with multiple conditions. An estimated 129 million Americans have at least one major chronic disease and the numbers continue to rise. The complexity of chronic care management further underscores the need for standardized protocols and evidence-based clinical tools to manage care transitions, monitor patient adherence, and optimize treatment plans. Overcoming these challenges is critical to improving patient care and reducing health disparities.

Improving the Healthcare Experience with Value-Based Care and Payer-Provider Collaboration

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services aims to have all Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries and the vast majority of Medicaid beneficiaries in value-based care relationships by 2030.

In recent years, nearly 60% of healthcare reimbursements have been linked to quality or value. In a value-based care model, clinicians are incentivized to prioritize preventive care and manage chronic diseases effectively. This approach leads to better patient experiences and improved health outcomes. Meanwhile, payers can better control costs and drive affordability for their members.

As we shift from fee-for-service to value-based care models, we need to build a system with better collaboration between payers and providers. By working together, we can better align on incentives and share data to support the development of the next generation of advanced clinical decision support tools. This collaboration requires real-time data exchanges and robust IT systems that create a seamless experience for providers that drives adoption of these new technologies. Ultimately, these advanced CDS tools provide a more holistic view of the patient’s healthcare journey, enabling the development of optimized treatment plans while reducing administrative burden from activities such as prior authorizations.

We should embrace these tools to drive the healthcare landscape toward more sustainable, patient-centered care. This approach ensures resources are used efficiently and care is delivered effectively, enabling a more affordable and connected system for all.

About McKinley Glover

McKinley Glover, IV, MD, MHS, is the vice president of clinical decision support at Optum Insight. He also serves as an assistant professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School and is an attending physician at Massachusetts General Hospital. In his current role at Optum, Dr. Glover leads strategies aimed at enabling patient-facing providers with real-time data and clinical content to enhance clinical decision making to improve the quality and cost of care.

< + > Kouper Emerges from Stealth with $10M in Funding to Transform Transitions of Care

Partnering with Top Health Systems, Kouper is Transforming Care Transitions with Generative AI to Improve Patient Outcomes and Operational Insight

Kouper, a health technology platform designed to transform transitions of care, today formally emerged from stealth with $10 million in funding from General Catalyst, 25Madison, and CVS Health Ventures. The company’s mission is to support the millions of patients transitioning across health care settings annually in the United States.

The period following hospital discharge is widely recognized as the most critical—and vulnerable—in a patient’s care journey. Without thoughtful management, patient outcomes and health care spending can spiral out of control, contributing to over $53B in annual avoidable readmission costs. Kouper addresses this challenge by leveraging AI-powered infrastructure to improve patient engagement, automate scheduling, and capture data as patients move from the emergency room, inpatient, and urgent care settings.

“The journey through the American health care system is fraught with challenges and can be particularly difficult when transitioning from the hospital to the home setting,” said Salman Ali, Co-Founder and CEO at Kouper. “A combination of our team’s lived experience and iteration with our incubation partner 25m Health laid the foundation for Kouper and our absolute focus on creating a personalized transition of care experience for every patient leaving the hospital. Our team and customer base are growing rapidly and the validation we’ve received from our health system customers has been incredibly encouraging.”

Kouper is redefining how health care organizations manage patient care transitions by directly integrating with health systems to harness real-time, contextual data across the care continuum. Its AI-powered data platform unifies fragmented, siloed information to deliver a rich, longitudinal view of the patient journey—especially following hospital-based events.

By tapping into Kouper’s intelligent infrastructure, health systems and risk-bearing entities can dramatically enhance their transitions of care programs—boosting patient access, coordination, and outcomes—without the burden of added full-time employees or complex change management. Kouper empowers organizations to do more with less, while keeping patients at the center of every care decision.

“Kouper is solving one of the most critical challenges in health care by addressing the failures in care transitions that hurt patients and burden systems. Salman, Ablimit, and the team are building core infrastructure that brings accountability, continuity, and better outcomes. We are proud to support their patient-centered, data-driven approach as they expand to more health systems across the country. This is Health Assurance in action,” said Chris Bischoff, Managing Director and Global Head of Health Assurance at General Catalyst.

“Salman and Ablimit are passionate about simplifying care transitions, and their deep empathy shines through in both the quality of their product and the tens of thousands of patients they’ve helped. With new mandatory episode-based payment models like TEAM emerging, it’s more important than ever for health systems to adopt Kouper’s comprehensive, AI agent-powered transitions of care platform at scale. We’re proud to continue supporting the team as they bring their vision to life,” said Merrill Anovick, General Partner at 25Madison.

In Collaboration with Leading Health Systems

Kouper is working closely with forward-thinking health systems that share its mission to reshape health care:

“I first met Salman and his team a couple of years ago while working to launch one of our hospitals in Texas. Since then, they have demonstrated a systems-level approach to building a market-leading transitions-of-care offering. We’ve been excited to expand our partnership with Kouper across several of our hospitals,” said Chris Frost, MD, Senior Vice President, Chief Medical Officer and Chief Quality Officer at LifePoint.

“As the leader of one of the largest clinically integrated networks in the country, serving over 550,000 aligned lives, I know that transitions of care are critical to our success. We are excited to partner with Kouper to equip our Care Hub teams with cutting-edge analytics and AI-enabled support, empowering our staff to deliver even better care,” stated Courtland Keteyian, MD, MBA, MPH, Interim President/CEO, Mosaic Clinically Integrated Network at Henry Ford Health.

“Ascension Saint Thomas is excited to pilot Kouper at our Nashville Midtown site. Kouper’s ability to connect hospitalized and ER patients to timely follow-up care is a best practice idea we are pleased to strengthen,” said A. Brian Wilcox, Jr., MD, Chief Clinical Officer at Ascension Saint Thomas.

Kouper can be fully deployed in as little as four weeks, delivering rapid time-to-value. Among its health system partners, the platform has driven over a 50% increase in patient engagement and more than a 60% improvement in post-discharge and emergency department follow-up appointments—accelerating impact where it matters most.

In addition to General Catalyst, 25Madison, and CVS Health Ventures, this financing includes a number of prominent health care angel investors and will be used to further grow and develop the Kouper team and product.

Visit the Kouper website kouperhealth.com to learn more about how vertical transitions of care solutions can help your patients, as well as career opportunities on Kouper’s growing team.

About Kouper

Kouper is a health care technology firm that builds vertical transitions of care solutions for health systems, payors, and risk-bearing entities. The firm empowers care navigators, case managers, and nursing teams through an AI-powered software infrastructure that facilitates a concierge-like transition experience for every patient. Kouper is led by CEO Salman Ali, co-founder of GetSnooze, and CTO Ablimit (PhD) Keskin, formerly of Komodo Health. For more information, please visit kouperhealth.com.

Originally announced May 8th, 2025

< + > Bonus Features – June 1, 2025 – 58% of patients frustrated by prior auth for medications, Wolters Kluwer Health has a new CEO, plus 24 more stories

Welcome to the weekly edition of Healthcare IT Today Bonus Features. This article will be a weekly roundup of interesting stories, product announcements, new hires, partnerships, research studies, awards, sales, and more. Because there’s so much happening out there in healthcare IT we aren’t able to cover in our full articles, we still want to make sure you’re informed of all the latest news, announcements, and stories happening to help you better do your job.

News

• Morehouse School of Medicine and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai chose BeeKeeperAI to test AI models on their real-world data in chronic heart failure. It’s notable as the first operational deployment certified under CHAI’s assurance service provider certification process.
• HL7 International launched HL7 AI Challenge 2025, a global innovation competition. Submissions are due July 30. Selected winners will be recognized during the organization’s annual meeting this September in Pittsburgh.

Studies

• There’s disconnect between medtech vendors and healthcare providers when it comes to connected care, according to the latest report from Deloitte. While 45% of medtech executives said lack of interoperability with EHRs is the biggest challenge, 32% of healthcare execs said demonstrating value was the biggest obstacle.
• Nearly 60% of patients said the prior authorization process for medication is frustrating, according to a DrFirst survey. Also, 36% of patients awaiting prior authorization said their condition worsened. Meanwhile, nominations are open for the 2025 Healthiverse Heroes Award from DrFirst, with nominations due June 20 and winners announced in August.

Partnerships

• CheqUp and WeightWatchers are partnering to support weight loss through GLP-1 medication and behavioral support in the United Kingdom.
• Ciba Health, a platform for patients managing multiple chronic conditions, announced a collaboration with the American Diabetes Association.
• Urgent care software provider Experity launched its Partner Ecosystem with four inaugural partners.
• Juno Health and Multiview Financial Software are integrating their EHR and ERP software.
• Lumeris and the MIT Computational Biology Lab are partnering to enhance advanced AI models that guide individual and population health interventions.
• Supplemental benefits provider NationsBenefits expanded its partnership with Walmart to offer tailored wellness support.
• PhaseV is partnering with the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation to advance research into inflammatory bowel disease.

Products

• Interoperability vendor 1upHealth launched 1up Prior Authorization to help organizations comply with CMS regulations.
• Auxira Health launched its virtual support product for cardiology, which was co-developed by MedStar Health.
• Coviant Software released Diplomat MFT 9.4, the latest version of its managed file transfer automation tool, with reporting and testing features that address expected changes to HIPAA regulations.
• Innovaccer launched Innovaccer Gravity to help organizations bring data sources together and scale AI adoption.
• Value-based care data and analytics vendor Motive Medical Intelligence launched Tax Identification Number clinical performance measurement reporting within Practicing Wisely. In addition, Motive Medical Intelligence appointed Jay Sultan as Executive Vice President of Product Strategy and Management.

Sales 

• Maryland-based Meritus Health chose DAX Copilot as its ambient listening technology.
• Allina Health chose SoundHound AI as its conversational AI platform.
• As One Insurance Group selected TytoCare to support home-based medical exams in its benefits offerings.

People

• Wolters Kluwer appointed Greg Samios as CEO of its Health division, effective June 1.
• athenahealth appointed Tom Cowhey as Chief Financial Officer, effective June 9.
• Virtual care vendor Life365 appointed Jay Roberts as Chief Development Officer.
• Data and analytics vendor Inovalon appointed Ed Chidsey as President of its Insights Business Unit.
• Clinical data platform emtelligent hired Matt Holcomb as Executive Vice President of People & Operations.
• Life sciences commercialization advisor Beghou Consulting added Robert Rouse and Jason Stephani as Partners.
• The Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network (HCPLAN) named former head of CMS Andy Slavitt to its Executive Forum.

If you have news that you’d like us to consider for a future edition of Healthcare IT Today Bonus Features, please submit them on this page. Please include any relevant links and let us know if news is under embargo. Note that submissions received after the close of business on Thursday may not be included in Bonus Features until the following week.