Regional NSW medical education and training business Medcast has raised $5.4 million to expand its AI clinical knowledge platform, MedLuma.
The raise was led by veteran Queensland medical software business Best Practice Software.
The funding will be used on adding to the headcount in the technology and clinical teams, and product development and integration with clinical software, including Best Practice’s practice management systems.
Founded in 2013 in Bowral by CEO Dr Stephen Barnett and chief product officer Justin Lewis, Medcast has delivered clinical education and professional development to more than 100,000 registered healthcare professionals.
MedLuma launched earlier this year with an initial focus on Australian GPs. It helps clinicians find answers to clinical questions using Australian guidelines and medical sources, with citations linking to the original material.
The platform aims to reduce the time doctors spend searching for information while treating patients.
Medcast has delivered clinical education and professional development to more than 100,000 registered healthcare professionals.
CEO Dr Barnett said the challenge went beyond making information easier to find.
“AI has enormous potential to improve healthcare by bringing the right information into the right context. But in clinical care, speed and convenience are not enough,” he said.
“Clinicians need information they can trust, grounded in evidence and Australian practice.”
He said MedLuma combines technical checks with human review, keeps Australian health data onshore and works with guideline publishers to obtain permission to use their content.
Lewis said the quality and sourcing of information would be central to adoption.
“AI-powered search is becoming increasingly easy to build. Medical-grade AI that clinicians can interrogate and trust is much harder,” he said.
Best Practice CEO Craig Hodges said their investment would help bring MedLuma into software clinicians already use.
“Our lead investment in Medcast reflects our confidence in the team, the MedLuma platform and the opportunity to build technology purpose-designed for Australian healthcare,” he said.
The two companies have an existing collaboration spanning clinical software and education.
