The U.S. healthcare industry is going through a major digital transformation.
Patients can now consult doctors virtually, access mental health support online, manage chronic conditions from home, and use digital tools to stay informed about their health. At the same time, hospitals and physicians are adopting artificial intelligence to reduce paperwork, improve clinical workflows, and manage growing amounts of healthcare data.
Behind many of these changes are digital health startups.
Some are building tools directly for patients, while others are creating technology for doctors, hospitals, employers, and health insurance companies.
Here are some of the top digital health startups and growth-stage companies shaping healthcare in America.
1. Abridge
Focus: AI-powered clinical documentation
Abridge is one of the most closely watched healthcare AI companies in the United States.
The company uses artificial intelligence to help turn conversations between healthcare professionals and patients into structured clinical documentation.
Documentation is a major part of a physician’s workload. After seeing patients, doctors may spend significant time updating electronic health records and completing notes.
Abridge aims to reduce that administrative burden.
Its AI technology converts conversations between healthcare professionals and patients into draft clinical notes for review.
Why does this matter?
Reducing documentation time could allow physicians to spend more time focusing on patients. It may also help healthcare organizations address one of the major sources of administrative burden in medicine.
Abridge’s growth also shows how quickly generative AI is moving from experimental healthcare projects into real clinical workflows.
2. OpenEvidence
Focus: AI-powered medical information
Healthcare professionals regularly need to search medical literature, clinical research, and other evidence when making decisions.
OpenEvidence is developing an AI-powered platform designed specifically for this purpose.
Instead of searching through large amounts of medical information, physicians can ask questions and receive answers supported by medical evidence.
The company has attracted significant attention from both physicians and investors. In January 2026, OpenEvidence announced a $250 million funding round that valued the company at approximately $12 billion.
Its rapid growth reflects a broader trend in healthcare: physicians increasingly want AI tools that can help them find and understand medical information.
However, AI-generated medical information still requires professional judgment.
Tools such as OpenEvidence are best understood as clinical support systems rather than replacements for physicians.
3. Hippocratic AI
Focus: Generative AI for healthcare
Hippocratic AI is building artificial intelligence designed specifically for healthcare.
Rather than developing a general-purpose chatbot, the company focuses on healthcare applications and has emphasized safety in its approach to generative AI.
Its technology is being developed for patient-facing and operational tasks that do not require AI. Potential applications include patient education, follow-up communication, care coordination, and other healthcare workflows.
This is an important area because the United States continues to face healthcare workforce shortages.
AI agents may eventually help healthcare organizations manage routine communication and administrative tasks, allowing clinicians to focus on human expertise.
Hippocratic AI represents a growing category of companies building AI systems specifically around healthcare needs rather than adapting general consumer AI tools for medical use.
4. Maven Clinic
Focus: Women’s and family health
Maven Clinic has become one of the best-known digital health companies focused on women and families.
Its platform provides virtual support across different stages of life, including fertility, pregnancy, postpartum care, parenting, and menopause.
This approach addresses an important problem in American healthcare.
Women may need care from several different professionals during pregnancy, fertility treatment, or menopause. Finding the right support can sometimes be difficult, particularly when specialist services are not easily available locally.
Digital platforms can help close some of these access gaps.
Maven works with employers and health plans to provide members with access to virtual healthcare professionals and other forms of support.
The company’s growth also reflects increasing investment in women’s health, an area that historically received less attention and funding than many other parts of healthcare.
5. Spring Health
Focus: Digital mental healthcare
Mental healthcare has become one of the largest areas of digital health innovation.
Spring Health is working to make mental healthcare easier to access through a digital platform that connects people with personalized care options.
Depending on individual needs, care may include therapy, coaching, medication management, self-guided resources, and other services.
The company works with employers and other organizations to provide mental health benefits.
Spring Health has also been investing more heavily in artificial intelligence. In 2026, the company introduced Guide, an AI-supported mental health experience designed to provide more continuous support.
The company represents a broader change in employer healthcare benefits.
Instead of simply providing employees with a phone number to call when they need help, employers are increasingly looking for digital platforms that can connect people with appropriate mental health services more quickly.
6. Transcarent
Focus: Healthcare navigation and employer health benefits
One of the biggest challenges in U.S. healthcare is helping patients find the right care and understand how to access it. It is figuring out where to go, what services are covered, and how much care will cost.
Transcarent is trying to make that process easier.
The company provides a healthcare platform designed primarily for employers and health plans. Its services cover areas such as healthcare navigation, surgery, cancer care, pharmacy benefits, weight health, and virtual care.
Transcarent has also introduced AI-powered tools designed to help members find and understand healthcare services.
Its market position became even stronger after completing its combination with Accolade in April 2025.
The combined organization said it serves more than 20 million members and over 1,700 employer and health plan clients.
Transcarent shows how digital health is expanding beyond telemedicine. Modern healthcare platforms now offer a wider range of services to help patients manage their care.
7. Nourish
Focus: Virtual nutrition and metabolic health
Nutrition plays an important role in preventing and managing many chronic conditions, but access to registered dietitians can be difficult for some Americans.
Nourish is working to make nutrition care easier to access through a virtual platform.
The company connects patients with registered dietitians and works with insurance plans to make nutrition services available to a larger population.
Its model has expanded beyond traditional nutrition counseling.
In 2026, Nourish announced a $100 million Series C funding round, bringing its total funding to $215 million.
The company is developing what it describes as an AI-native metabolic health clinic that combines registered dietitians, virtual medical care, laboratory testing, and GLP-1 medication management.
This makes Nourish particularly relevant as the U.S. healthcare industry pays greater attention to obesity, diabetes, metabolic health, and GLP-1 medications.
Its growth also demonstrates how digital health companies are increasingly combining virtual care with traditional healthcare services.
8. Candid Health
Focus: Healthcare billing and revenue cycle management
Not every important digital health startup works directly with patients.
Some are focused on fixing the complicated administrative systems behind American healthcare.
Candid Health is a good example.
The company provides technology designed to automate revenue cycle management, the process by which healthcare organizations bill insurance companies and receive payment for patient care.
Medical billing can be extremely complicated. Healthcare organizations deal with different insurers, billing rules, coding requirements, claim denials, and administrative processes.
Candid Health uses automation and AI to reduce some of this manual work.
In July 2026, the company announced a $120 million Series D funding round to expand its autonomous revenue cycle management technology.
For hospitals and medical practices, tools like these could reduce administrative costs and help employees spend less time on billing issues.
9. Function Health
Focus: Preventive health and laboratory testing
Function Health is part of a growing movement toward more proactive and preventive healthcare.
The company provides members with access to a broad range of laboratory tests and organizes the results through a digital platform.
The idea is to help people understand changes in their health over time instead of waiting until symptoms become serious.
Preventive health platforms are becoming increasingly popular among consumers seeking greater access to their health data.
However, more testing does not always mean better healthcare.
Laboratory results need to be interpreted carefully, and abnormal findings can sometimes require additional medical evaluation.
The long-term opportunity for companies such as Function Health is to combine accessible testing, clear health information, and professional medical guidance to help consumers make informed decisions.
10. Sword Health
Focus: Digital physical therapy and musculoskeletal care
Back pain, joint problems, and other musculoskeletal conditions are common and can be expensive to treat.
Sword Health uses technology to deliver remote physical therapy and musculoskeletal care.
Patients can complete guided exercises at home while receiving support through the company’s digital platform and clinical team.
This model can be useful for people who may otherwise struggle to attend a physical therapy appointment regularly.
Sword Health has expanded beyond basic virtual physical therapy into a broader digital healthcare platform for musculoskeletal conditions.
Its growth shows how digital care can move beyond video appointments. Instead of simply connecting a patient and clinician through a screen, newer digital health platforms combine software, clinical support, data, and personalized programs.
Why Digital Health Startups Are Growing
Several forces are driving the growth of digital health companies in America.
One is the rising cost of healthcare.
Employers, insurers, hospitals, and patients are all looking for ways to make healthcare more efficient.
Another factor is the healthcare workforce shortage.
Doctors, nurses, therapists, and administrative teams often manage heavy workloads. Technology that reduces unnecessary administrative work or expands access to care can therefore provide significant value.
Consumer expectations have also changed.
People are used to managing banking, shopping, travel, and communication through smartphones. Many now expect healthcare to offer the same level of digital convenience.
Artificial intelligence is accelerating these trends even further.
AI can help healthcare organizations summarize clinical conversations, search medical information, automate billing tasks, personalize patient communication, and analyze large amounts of healthcare data.
AI Is Becoming a Major Part of Digital Health
One of the clearest trends among today’s digital health startups is the growing use of artificial intelligence.
Earlier digital health companies were often built around telehealth, mobile applications, or remote monitoring.
The new generation is increasingly AI-native.
Companies such as Abridge are applying AI to clinical documentation. OpenEvidence is using it to help physicians search medical knowledge. Candid Health is applying automation to medical billing, while other companies are exploring AI for patient communication, mental healthcare, and care navigation.
However, healthcare AI comes with greater responsibility than many consumer applications.
Accuracy, patient privacy, cybersecurity, bias, clinical validation, and human oversight all need to be considered.
The most successful companies may not be those that use the most AI. They may be the ones that use AI responsibly to solve clear healthcare problems.
What Makes a Digital Health Startup Successful?
Healthcare is very different from many other technology markets.
A startup cannot succeed simply because it has an attractive app. Digital health companies need to show that their technology provides meaningful value.
That may mean improving patient outcomes, saving physicians time, reducing administrative costs, expanding access to care, lowering healthcare spending, or improving the patient experience.
Companies also need to understand healthcare regulations, data privacy requirements, reimbursement systems, and clinical workflows.
Another major factor is integration. Doctors already use electronic health records and many other digital systems. If a new platform creates more work instead of reducing it, adoption can become difficult.
The strongest healthcare technologies usually fit naturally into existing workflows.
What Should Healthcare Leaders Watch?
Hospital executives, physicians, investors, and other healthcare leaders should pay attention to several areas of digital health over the next few years.
Generative AI will continue to move into clinical and administrative workflows.
Virtual specialty care could make services such as mental healthcare, nutrition, women’s health, and physical therapy easier to access.
Preventive health platforms may give consumers more information about their health before serious conditions develop.
AI-powered administrative tools could help hospitals reduce the time and cost involved in documentation, billing, scheduling, and other routine tasks.
At the same time, healthcare organizations will need stronger standards for evaluating digital tools.
A large funding round or impressive technology does not automatically mean a product improves healthcare.
Clinical evidence, security, patient experience, integration, and measurable outcomes remain essential.
Conclusion
Digital health startups are becoming an important part of the American healthcare system.
Companies such as Abridge, OpenEvidence, Hippocratic AI, Maven Clinic, Spring Health, Transcarent, Nourish, Candid Health, Function Health, and Sword Health are approaching healthcare from very different directions.
Some are helping doctors work more efficiently. Others are making mental health, nutrition, women’s health, physical therapy, and preventive care more accessible. Several are using AI to reduce the administrative burden that has long frustrated healthcare professionals.
What connects them is a focus on solving real problems within the healthcare system.
The next stage of digital health will likely be less about simply putting healthcare online and more about making healthcare smarter, easier to access, more personalized, and more efficient.
For healthcare leaders, the challenge will be identifying which technologies genuinely improve care and which simply add another digital layer to an already complicated system.
The startups that can demonstrate better outcomes, responsible use of AI, strong patient trust, and clear value for healthcare organizations will be the ones most likely to shape the future of healthcare in America.
