Tennr, a health-tech startup based in New York City, has just closed a $101 million Series B financing round to accelerate development of its artificial-intelligence platform that automates the patient referral process. Led by leading healthcare investors and joined by strategic backers from both the provider and payer sectors, this infusion of capital underscores the urgency of solving one of healthcare’s most persistent bottlenecks: moving patients smoothly from primary care to specialists.
Why Referrals Matter—and Why They Don’t Work Today
Every year in the United States, hundreds of millions of referrals are generated when primary care physicians (PCPs) determine patients require specialist evaluation. Yet as many as 30–40 percent of those referrals never reach the specialist’s office, according to industry estimates. When they do arrive, they’re often delayed by days or weeks, entangled in manual approvals, faxed forms, phone tag, and legacy electronic-health-record (EHR) workflows. Patients face longer wait times, frustration and—even worse—gaps in care that can lead to worsening conditions or unnecessary emergency visits.
How Tennr’s AI Platform Tackles the Problem
Founded in 2020 by healthcare veterans and AI experts, Tennr has built a cloud-native platform that plugs into existing EHR systems. Using natural-language processing, machine learning–based decision support and real-time insurance verification, the platform:
• Reads clinical notes from the PCP visit and automatically classifies the urgency and specialty need.
• Checks patient benefits, copays and referral requirements against payer rules in seconds.
• Assembles all required documentation, pre-populates referral forms and routes them to the right specialist or imaging center.
• Provides transparent status tracking for clinicians, schedulers and patients via a secure portal or mobile app.
By automating approval workflows and eliminating redundant data entry, Tennr customers report a 60 percent reduction in referral cycle time and as much as a 50 percent drop in no-show rates.
The $101 Million Round—Who’s In and What’s Next
The financing was co-led by Oak Grove Ventures and PrimeHealth Capital, with participation from existing investors HealthAdvance Partners and Catalyst MD. In conjunction with the round, PrimeHealth managing partner Lisa Chen and Oak Grove principal Jamal Rodriguez will join Tennr’s board.
Tennr CEO and co-founder Dr. Maya Singh said, “Referral inefficiencies cost providers hundreds of dollars per patient and jeopardize continuity of care. This investment enables us to scale our engineering team, deepen AI capabilities—especially around predictive clinical decision-support—and forge new partnerships with health systems and payers nationwide.”
Tennr plans to use the funds to:
• Expand its sales and customer-success teams to support new health-system contracts.
• Accelerate product development, including a forthcoming module for eConsults and remote specialty triage.
• Strengthen payer integrations to cover more than 90 percent of U.S. commercial and government benefit plans.
• Invest in cybersecurity and compliance as the platform handles increasingly sensitive patient data across state lines.
Market Context and Competitive Landscape
Tennr joins a growing field of referral-management solutions, though few tackle the entire end-to-end workflow with deep AI. Competitors range from large EHR vendors offering bolt-on modules, to newer entrants focusing on scheduling or insurance eligibility alone. Investors see Tennr’s advantage in its machine-learning engine, which continually refines its clinical and payor-rule models as more referrals pass through the system.
Healthcare CIOs and CMIOs are taking notice. In a recent pilot with a 200-physician primary‐care network, Tennr reduced administrative overhead by 40 full-time equivalent hours per week and achieved a 70 percent first-touch approval rate for complex cardiology and neurology referrals.
Personal Anecdote: The Day I Sat on Hold for 45 Minutes
Last year, my aunt was referred to a rheumatologist after months of joint pain. Her PCP faxed over the referral, but we didn’t hear back for two weeks. When I called the specialist’s office, I was transferred four times, each time restating symptoms, insurance details and preferred appointment times. By the time we secured a slot, her condition had flared up. It struck me that a surgeon should fix broken bones, not carelessly manual processes. Tennr’s vision—to streamline every click, code and conversation—would have spared my aunt weeks of anxiety and a full afternoon of bureaucratic frustration.
Five Key Takeaways
1. Tennr raised $101 million in a Series B round led by Oak Grove Ventures and PrimeHealth Capital.
2. The AI-driven platform automates referral approvals, insurance checks and specialist scheduling.
3. Customers report up to a 60 percent reduction in referral cycle time and a 50 percent drop in no-show rates.
4. Funds will fuel engineering hires, deeper payer integrations and expansion into eConsults.
5. The solution plugs into existing EHRs and learns over time, distinguishing Tennr from modular competitors.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How does Tennr’s AI actually learn payer rules?
• Tennr’s system ingests payer documentation—PDFs, policy manuals and online guidelines—and applies natural‐language processing to map coverage rules to clinical scenarios. The model refines itself using real-world approval and denial data.
2. Can smaller practices afford Tennr’s solution?
• Tennr offers tiered pricing based on practice size and referral volume. Many independent practices discover a positive ROI within six months by cutting administrative labor and increasing referral completion rates.
3. Does Tennr integrate with all major EHR platforms?
• Yes. Tennr currently supports Epic, Cerner, Allscripts and athenahealth, with FHIR-based connectors in development for other systems.
Call to Action
If you’re a healthcare leader grappling with referral backlogs, rising administrative costs or dissatisfied patients, now is the time to explore how AI can transform your workflows. Visit Tennr’s website to request a personalized demo, or contact our team at sales@tennr.ai to learn about customer success stories and implementation timelines. Let’s work together to make patient referrals seamless, efficient and—above all—patient-centric.
