Basalt Health, an artificial intelligence platform focused on post-acute care admissions, has raised a $20 million Series A round led by NEA. Existing investors Frist Cressey Ventures and 25m Health also participated in the financing, bringing the company's total capital raised to approximately $24.5 million. The new funding will support product expansion and accelerate deployment across 111 hospital markets by the end of 2026.
Persistent Inefficiencies in Post-Acute Care
Roughly 14 million patients enter post-acute care in the United States every year, yet the placement process remains largely outdated. Case managers often fax lengthy clinical packets to an average of 6.6 facilities for each placement and then wait for a suitable bed to respond. These delays and mismatches contribute to an estimated $17 billion in avoidable hospital readmission costs annually.
How the Basalt Platform Works
Basalt reads every referral as soon as it arrives through fax, portal, or direct electronic medical record integration. The platform evaluates each referral against a facility's clinical criteria and supports the workflows that follow, including admissions, benefits checks, and prior authorizations. Rather than simply moving documents, Basalt helps care teams reach fast, consistent, and defensible placement decisions.
Measured Results and Network Expansion
Basalt has been live with Lifepoint Health since its seed round in 2025 and has reduced median chart processing time from 8.5 minutes to 1.2 minutes. That improvement represents an 86 percent reduction in referral processing time for the diversified healthcare delivery network. The platform is also being implemented across 49 additional Lifepoint markets and will scale to 62 ScionHealth hospitals by December 2026, where it will manage referrals for more than 6,000 practitioners.
Leadership and Investor Perspectives
Founder and CEO Ben Hackett said case managers are still sending 70-page packets and waiting for responses while patients remain in hospital beds. He described Basalt as a way to turn uncertainty into fast, defensible decisions. Hackett also noted that the funding gives the company the power to transform one of healthcare's most stubbornly inefficient systems.
NEA Partner Blake Wu said Basalt is addressing a massive healthcare challenge with a rare combination of clinical impact, operational value, and rapid adoption. He called the platform essential infrastructure for care teams. Wu added that NEA is thrilled to continue its partnership with Hackett and the Basalt team as they work to transform post-acute care.
Lifepoint Health Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer Al Smith said the platform creates measurable value while fitting naturally into existing clinical and operational workflows. ScionHealth Senior Vice President of Growth and Transformation Sarah Stuart noted that Basalt has quickly transformed how her team members work every day. Both health systems are scaling the technology across their networks, reflecting confidence in its operational benefits.
Plans for Growth
Basalt will use the funding to expand its platform from admissions into discharge and payer workflows. The company also plans to grow its sales, marketing, implementation, and engineering teams. The broader goal is to make AI disappear into existing workflows and give care teams more time to focus on patients.
With a $20 million Series A and deployments underway at Lifepoint Health and ScionHealth, Basalt Health is positioning itself as an important infrastructure layer for post-acute care. The company's early results show significant time savings and faster referral decisions in a sector long burdened by manual processes. The new capital will support a broader rollout and deeper product development as Basalt works to modernize how patients move from hospitals to post-acute settings.