Counsel Health

As an emergency physician and Counsel’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Rishi Khakhkhar, MD, MBA, has seen firsthand what happens when patients can’t get timely access to care. On the latest ThinkData Podcast, he explains how pairing AI with physician oversight can change that story. In this episode, Dr. Khakhkhar joins 🚀Alex Hutchings to discuss: • How Counsel AI is trained with safety as the top priority • How consumer behavior is shifting toward AI • How an AI-enabled, physician-supervised model makes care continuous, accessible, and scalable 🎧 Listen to the full conversation here: https://lnkd.in/dVjta3sY

One in six adults now uses AI chatbots at least once a month to find health information. One in three say they trust AI chatbots to provide reliable advice. While many of the foundational models are powerful, they weren’t designed for patient care and lack the guardrails needed to keep people safe. At Counsel, we’ve built a different model: clinical-grade AI with a doctor in the loop. Our physician-led approach ensures fast, accurate, and safe care. In head-to-head benchmarks, Counsel AI escalated emergencies with greater precision and fewer misses compared to leading foundational models. For our employer and health plan partners, that means higher-quality guidance delivered at scale, avoiding patient stress, unnecessary costs, and additional strain on already overloaded emergency departments. In healthcare, safety has to come first. That’s why every part of our platform is designed with physician oversight and clinical guardrails. We’re grateful to our partners at a16z Bio + Health and Julie Yoo for spotlighting Counsel as an AI-native medical practice redefining what a “new site of care” looks like. 🎥 Watch Julie’s full perspective on why healthcare is the industry that will benefit the most from AI: https://lnkd.in/gFhgi-6r 📝 Learn more about Counsel’s escalation rates compared to foundational models: https://lnkd.in/gtriuRyi 📖 Read the full KFF poll on AI and health information here: https://lnkd.in/gRSy-MQq

Incredibly excited to share that Counsel has been named a finalist in Accenture’s HealthTech Innovation Challenge! This recognition highlights innovators tackling some of healthcare’s most pressing challenges. For Counsel, that means bringing medical-grade AI into care delivery, expanding physician capacity, and delivering trusted guidance in minutes. With this model, we help employers and health plans reduce high-cost claims, increase engagement, and improve population health, while giving members access to continuous, personalized care. Interested in partnering with us? Connect with our team today: https://lnkd.in/ex_i6VW5

Yesterday, Counsel’s Founder & CEO, Muthu Alagappan, MD, spoke at the World Medical Innovation Forum, an event that brought together healthcare innovators, policymakers, and investors to shape the future of medicine. On a panel focused on AI in patient-facing care, Muthu shared the stage with leaders from Mass General Brigham, Microsoft, and Abridge. They dove deep on the ways that AI can augment physicians in decision-making, the evolving roles of EMRs, and what it will take to bring these innovations safely to the bedside. Thank you to Gaurav Singal, MD for moderating an incredible panel, and to Esther Kim, ScD, RD, LDN, David Rhew, M.D., and Shiv (Shivdev) Rao for a thoughtful discussion. #WMIF2025

Are you an NYC-based engineer curious about how AI is transforming healthcare? 💡 Join Andreessen Horowitz and founders from Counsel, Tennr, and Pearl Health tomorrow, Thursday, September 11 at 5:30 PM ET, for an expert discussion on the real-world applications of AI in care delivery, startup opportunities, and the future of healthcare innovation. After the panel, stick around to connect with engineers, founders, and industry leaders pushing the frontier in the industry. Save your spot now: https://lnkd.in/efWZbgTj

We’re excited to welcome Denny McFadden as Counsel’s new Director of Design! Denny brings a wealth of expertise leading design across industries, with a track record of creating intuitive, patient-centric experiences that drive real impact. In our latest Q&A, Denny shares his career journey, what excites him about building for healthcare, and how he’s shaping experiences that bring together clinical-grade AI and physician-led care. If you’re curious about how thoughtful design can make healthcare feel more human, read the full conversation here: https://lnkd.in/eCniyKGG

We’re excited to welcome Amit V. Bhatt as Counsel’s new SVP of Finance and Operations! Amit brings deep experience across consulting, finance, and healthtech, where he has helped organizations scale through critical stages of growth. In our latest Q&A, Amit shares his career journey, what drew him to Counsel’s mission, and how he plans to help us scale AI-enabled, physician-led care. If you’re curious about how strategic finance and operations can fuel healthcare innovation, read the full conversation here: https://lnkd.in/eBT7w2nw

Great opportunity for engineers looking to work at the bleeding edge of AI & healthcare. Counsel Health's small but stellar engineering team (ex-Stripe, NVIDIA, Google DeepMind) is growing and looking for engineers ready to shape the future of care delivery. Reach out to learn more 👉 https://lnkd.in/eNFqE3JU

Counsel’s AI Research team recently evaluated Counsel AI using HealthBench, the first large-scale, physician-designed benchmark for assessing AI in clinical scenarios. Our evaluation focused on the critical task of emergency escalation. Across 133 consensus scenarios, Counsel AI achieved: ✅ 100% recall, correctly identifying every emergent case. ✅ Higher precision, substantially fewer false positives than foundation models. ✅ F1 score of 0.675, compared to gpt-4.1 (0.441) and o3 (0.429). These results show that Counsel AI matches foundation models in safety while exceeding them in accuracy, an important distinction in emergency triage. This is an early but meaningful step in validating that AI can safely support clinical decision-making in high-stakes scenarios. Read the full results here: https://lnkd.in/gtriuRyi

We're excited to welcome Javier Monterrosa as Counsel's new Vice President of Marketing! Javier brings years of experience building and scaling brands in digital health with a focus on translating complex ideas into stories that resonate. In our latest Q&A, Javier shares what drew him to Counsel, the lessons he’s carried from past roles, and how he plans to help us define a new era of AI-powered, physician-led care. If you're curious about how intentional marketing can help shape healthcare adoption, read the full conversation here: https://lnkd.in/gUZAb4SQ