Specialized care grew up inside buildings, with a catchment measured by how far a patient would reasonably drive. Online, that limit goes away, and one practice can care for a whole state — which is how good care reaches into the specialist deserts that cover much of the country. The same shift changes the work for the doctor. Most online care has been built for quick, simple transactions, and we’re building it for the hard end of medicine instead: the long-running conditions that take a real workup and years of adjustment, the reason doctors went to med school in the first place.
The people behind us.
Jay Parkinson MD + MPH
CEO · Co-founder
A pediatrician and preventive medicine physician, designer, and entrepreneur who has spent his career pioneering new models of care. In 2007 he launched the world’s first iPhone-powered house-call practice, then founded Sherpaa, the first Virtual Primary Care company. Now he’s focused on using AI to free doctors to do what they do best— practice medicine.
Previously: Sherpaa · Crossover Health · Sana Benefits · Hello Health
Josh A. Emdur DO
Chief Medical Officer
A board-certified family medicine physician with 15+ years across primary care, hospital medicine, and telemedicine, licensed in all 50 states and DC. He joined to ensure physicians have a seat at the table when healthcare AI systems are designed.
Previously: SteadyMD · Village Medical
Natalie Piontek
Lead Engineer · Full-stack
A full-stack engineer with seven years’ experience in Python and Java, focused on HIPAA-compliant systems and EMR/EHR development. Most recently at HealthJoy she architected greenfield personalization end-to-end. She lives in Boulder — on the trails, the bike, in the sauna, or in the company of dogs.
Previously: HealthJoy
Our updated Hippocratic Oath
The commitments we hold our care model to, so it serves patients and clinicians and does no harm.
1
We will build technology that does no harm.
The principle under all of medicine comes first: do no harm. Our technology answers to it too. A machine never decides for a patient. The doctor stays in the loop.
2
We will hold our systems to a higher standard of accuracy, and act when they fall short.
Our tools show their reasoning, so a clinician or a patient can see how they reached an answer and catch it when they’re wrong. Technology is fallible, so we keep evaluating how these tools work in the real world and fix what doesn’t.
3
We will work to prevent disease wherever we can.
The systems and data we build look for what’s coming, not just what’s already here. Prevention first, treatment second.
4
We will respect the autonomy and dignity of every patient.
AI can inform a decision, but the decision belongs to the patient and their doctor. The technology serves the person, never the other way around.
5
We will protect patient privacy and data security, and work with data free of bias so every patient is treated fairly.
Patient data is used only with consent, guarded against misuse, and put to work for one purpose: better health. We take active steps to find and remove bias, so care is fair regardless of race, gender, background, or anything else about a person.
6
We will keep technology in service of human connection, and use it to lighten the load on clinicians.
Healthcare burned doctors out with administrative work that has nothing to do with medicine. Our technology takes that work off their plate, giving physicians more time and attention for their patients. The compassion and trust at the center of medicine stay human.
7
We will be willing to say we don’t know.
Neither medicine nor technology has every answer. Where we’re uncertain, we say so, and we keep working until we know more.
8
We will put the safety and well-being of patients above all else.
Everything we build exists to improve health and reduce harm. If a technology ever risks a patient’s physical or emotional well-being, it doesn’t ship.
The structure behind the oath.
An oath is only as strong as whatever holds you to it, so we built the company to hold this one. Automate Clinic is a public benefit corporation, which puts the benefit to patients in the charter itself and gives the board something it has to answer for. We work through the insurance people already have, so what a patient can get here doesn’t come down to what they can pay out of pocket. And the doctors who practice in the group hold equity in it, because owners make different decisions than employees do.