Tennr Revives Fax Machines to Transform Healthcare

When Trey Holterman, Diego Baugh, and Tyler Johnson met as freshmen at Stanford University, they shared a vision—one rooted in machine learning and the drive to solve real-world problems. After years of collaboration and exploration in the field of AI, the trio launched Tennr in 2021, setting up headquarters in the heart of New York City. Their mission was simple yet ambitious: to alleviate the mounting administrative burden in healthcare, focusing on streamlining document processing and workflow optimization for providers grappling with outdated systems.

In the evolving healthcare landscape, Tennr saw an opportunity to tackle one of the industry’s biggest pain points—an overreliance on manual processes for patient referrals, insurance claims, and document handling. By leveraging machine learning, the Tennr team set out to develop AI-powered tools to reduce wait times, eliminate administrative errors, and create efficiencies that would ripple through the healthcare system.

Technology to Automate Healthcare Workflows

Tennr’s platform is grounded in a specialized approach to machine learning, crafted specifically for healthcare’s intricate requirements. Unlike general-purpose AI tools, Tennr’s platform handles multiple healthcare-specific tasks:

• Document Processing: The platform reads, parses, and processes complex medical documents, enabling faster turnaround times for patients.
• Automated Patient Intake: Tennr automates patient referral intake, ensuring crucial details are captured and processed efficiently.
• Clinical Audits and Reviews: It assists in conducting detailed audits on clinical documents, a traditionally time-intensive task.
• Prior Authorization Requests: The platform manages prior authorizations, navigating complex insurance requirements to speed up processing.
• Eligibility & Benefit Checks: Tennr verifies insurance eligibility, helping providers avoid errors and streamline approvals.
• Medical Record Management: The platform organizes patient records seamlessly, reducing administrative strain.
• Claims Processing: Tennr’s technology expedites claims submissions, cutting down delays and rejections.

At the core of Tennr’s system is an advanced large language model, RaeLLM™ 7B, which uses deep learning to tackle the complexities of unstructured data in healthcare. Its “multi-patient model” efficiently parses through documents, including those with multiple patient data points, while the unique “checkbox reading” capability allows accurate processing of forms—tasks that traditional AI solutions often struggle with. With this specialized technology, Tennr’s AI reads incoming faxes, extracts relevant information, and routes it appropriately, reducing both error rates and processing times.

Strategic Funding and Market Expansion

Tennr’s growth trajectory has been nothing short of impressive, marked by substantial funding and strategic partnerships. In March 2024, Tennr secured $18 million in a Series A funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). This round brought Tennr into the spotlight, with prominent investors such as Foundation Capital and The New Normal Fund backing the company’s vision to tackle healthcare inefficiencies. Just nine months later, in October 2024, Tennr announced a Series B funding round of $37 million, led by Lightspeed Ventures with continued support from a16z and Foundation Capital. This funding valued Tennr between $200 million and $250 million and brought its total funding to over $61 million, underscoring investor confidence in Tennr’s technology and market potential.

With this latest injection of capital, Tennr has ambitious plans to:

1. Expand its Engineering and R&D Teams: Aiming to refine its AI models and innovate further, Tennr is set to double its employee numbers over the next six to eight months.
2. Enhance Market Presence: Leveraging funding to boost brand visibility and adoption, Tennr aims to strengthen its foothold in the healthcare sector.
3. Pioneer New Projects: The company is looking to develop solutions around healthcare coding and other high-impact areas, pushing the boundaries of automation in medical workflows.

Partnerships and Integrations

A significant part of Tennr’s success lies in its integration within existing healthcare infrastructures. Unlike many tech startups focused on phasing out legacy systems, Tennr’s approach is to complement these systems, meeting healthcare providers where they are. This philosophy is evident in their partnerships and integrations:

• KanTime Partnership: Tennr’s strategic alliance with KanTime, a post-acute care EMR solution, enables it to service a broader spectrum of healthcare providers.
• Fax and EHR Integrations: Tennr integrates seamlessly with various fax providers and legacy EHR systems, including outdated systems from the 1990s. This allows Tennr to process documents without requiring providers to overhaul their existing technology.

This approach resonates with healthcare providers nationwide, who continue to rely on faxes as a secure method for exchanging patient information despite its inefficiencies. Tennr’s integration capabilities have made it an appealing solution for healthcare practices dealing with non-standardized, unstructured data coming from multiple sources.

Delivering Impact and Future Goals

Today, Tennr’s technology processes documents for millions of patients across hundreds of healthcare practices, systems, and groups. With its high auto-approval rates and focus on accurate data handling, Tennr reduces front-end denials by 98% and allows practices to operate with a fraction of their traditional administrative staff.

The impact of Tennr’s automation goes beyond efficiency—it translates into improved patient care. Patients who once waited weeks for appointments with specialists now receive confirmations within hours, a testament to Tennr’s success in eliminating administrative bottlenecks. The company’s tools have facilitated tens of millions of referrals, transforming the patient experience by ensuring appointments happen promptly and paperwork flows seamlessly across systems.

Looking ahead, Tennr aims to expand its services further. By the end of 2025, the company aspires to handle document management for up to 10% of all patients in the U.S. healthcare system. Their ultimate vision is not just to automate but to reshape healthcare administration, paving the way for a more responsive, less error-prone system.

A Patient-Centered Approach with a Practical AI Vision

Tennr’s founders emphasize that their journey isn’t merely about deploying AI but about thoughtfully integrating it to resolve real business challenges. As CEO Trey Holterman puts it, “Finding high-potential AI applications requires focusing on business goals first.” He advises businesses to identify core challenges before turning to AI, echoing Tennr’s philosophy of solving specific problems rather than implementing generic AI solutions. Holterman also distinguishes between internal workflows (such as operations supporting defined processes) and external workflows that interact directly with clients. Tennr’s focus on external workflows underscores its commitment to improving client-facing processes that directly impact patient outcomes.

Reshaping the Landscape of Medical Document Processing

Tennr’s unorthodox approach—working with, rather than against, legacy systems—has garnered the attention of industry insiders and investors alike. Their technology doesn’t seek to replace fax machines, a staple in healthcare, but instead optimizes how data from these machines is processed. From automating referral processing to handling insurance communications, Tennr’s AI finds value in overlooked inefficiencies, transforming traditional faxes into valuable data sources.

The company’s commitment to enhancing healthcare administration and patient outcomes has resonated with industry leaders. Darius Reid, head of operations at Total Medical Supply in Texas, describes Tennr as “transformative,” noting that Tennr’s platform has enabled them to process new patients at a speed previously unattainable.

Rommy Foteh, COO at the national specialty practice NMA, echoes this sentiment, saying, “When we’re able to respond to our partners quickly and ensure we have everything needed to see a patient, patients remember their great experience, encouraging ongoing referrals to our surgeons and hospitals.” Testimonials like these reflect the widespread impact Tennr’s tools have had on practices across the country.

The Road Ahead for Tennr

While Tennr’s current focus remains on streamlining document-based workflows in healthcare, the company’s vision extends well beyond faxes and referrals. With new projects in the pipeline and continued funding, Tennr is well-positioned to take on additional challenges within healthcare data management, whether it’s handling complex billing codes or enhancing interoperability between disparate systems. Tennr’s approach—rooted in practicality and responsiveness—positions it uniquely in an industry slow to adopt new technologies.

As Tennr prepares for its next phase of growth, the company’s founders continue to emphasize the importance of focusing on concrete, measurable outcomes. “It’s not just about automating work,” Holterman notes, “but creating real growth for practices and, ultimately, delivering better care for patients.”