KeyCare, a Chicago-based digital health innovator, has raised US $27.4 million in new funding to accelerate the expansion of its AI-powered virtual care platform built directly on the Epic electronic health record (EHR) system, a milestone that signals growing investor confidence in technology that seamlessly links virtual services with core clinical workflows.
The financing round was led by HealthX Ventures with participation from several prominent venture capital firms including 8VC, LRVHealth, BOLD Capital Partners and Ikigai Venture Partners, alongside strategic partners from health systems such as WellSpan Health, Allina Health, University of Chicago Ventures, Edge Ventures and Exact Sciences. With this round, KeyCare’s total capital raised now exceeds $55 million, positioning it for rapid scaling.
Embedding Virtual Care Within Health Systems
Unlike many telehealth platforms that operate independently of core clinical systems, KeyCare’s strategy is to integrate virtual primary care and urgent care directly within existing EHR infrastructures. In this case, Epic, one of the most widely used clinical record systems in the United States. By operating on a customised, optimised instance of Epic, KeyCare ensures that virtual consultations, clinical notes and patient data flow seamlessly back into patients’ main medical records. This preserves continuity of care, enabling clinicians to maintain a full, unified view of a patient’s health journey.
KeyCare’s services cover 24/7 urgent care, preventive care, chronic condition management and virtual-first primary care, all delivered by its network of clinicians and supported by advanced digital tools. Crucially, every interaction remains connected to the patient’s home health system, maintaining coordination and avoiding data silos that have plagued earlier generations of telehealth platforms.
AI at the Heart of a ‘Telehealth 2.0’ Vision
A key focus for the newly raised capital is deepening KeyCare’s investment in AI. The company is combining Epic’s expanding suite of AI tools with its own proprietary developments to build what executives describe as “Telehealth 2.0”, an AI-first model designed to scale clinical capacity without compromising quality.
This includes using data-driven analytics, AI-enabled triage and workflow optimisation to support clinician decision-making, streamline administrative tasks and improve access to care. Investors and health system partners see this approach as essential for addressing capacity constraints in primary care, a pressure point for many health systems facing rising demand, limited workforce availability, and the need to deliver care more efficiently.
Strategic Backing from Health Systems
Participation from major health systems in the funding round highlights the practical appeal of KeyCare’s model to real-world providers. For example, UChicago Medicine has integrated KeyCare’s virtual care network to support 24/7 urgent care access, with early indications suggesting improvements in appointment availability, treatment adherence and triage effectiveness.
These collaborations are important because they demonstrate that virtual care can serve not as a standalone alternative, but as an embedded extension of existing care pathways, preserving clinical continuity and data integrity while expanding access and responsiveness.
Why It Matters for Health and Technology Leaders
For UK health technology leaders, the success of KeyCare highlights several key trends that could inform NHS digital transformation: the importance of EHR-centric virtual care to ensure care continuity and quality; the growing necessity of AI-augmented clinical capacity to support triage, documentation, and workflow optimisation amidst rising workforce pressure; and the value of connected patient journeys where virtual visits are seamlessly linked to core care records to prevent fragmentation. These developments align with current UK initiatives to enhance digital health services and address capacity constraints, such as NHS England’s virtual ward expansions, and investments in integrated digital records and AI tools for clinicians.
Looking to the Future
The $27.4 million funding round marks a strategic inflection point for KeyCare and highlights broader shifts in how virtual care is being woven into mainstream health systems. By marrying Epic-integrated clinical workflows with AI-driven capacity solutions, the company is positioning itself at the intersection of healthcare delivery innovation and digital transformation.
As health systems internationally wrestle with rising demand, workforce shortages and the need to make care more accessible and efficient, models that integrate virtual and in-person care which are supported by robust AI tools, which are likely to become increasingly central to sustainable health system design.
