Austin, Texas-based NarrativeDx, a startup that helps hospitals analyze patient comments, grievances and online reviews, has secured a strategic investment, according to a news release. NarrativeDx cofounder and CEO Kyle Robertson confirmed the investment amount is $3 million. Christiana Care Health System, the Texas Medical Center and Summation Health Ventures (a fund backed by MemorialCare Health System and Cedars-Sinai Health System) led the round. HealthX Ventures and Cultivation Capital, which took part in the startup's previous funding rounds, also participated. NarrativeDx intends to use the money to boost its sales and marketing efforts, continue innovating its product and hire new talent.

"We are using AI to improve healthcare experiences in a way that has never been done before," said Kyle Robertson, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, NarrativeDx. "Our partners have been eager to leverage our technology to better understand their patients' experiences. The demand we are seeing is phenomenal, and we are on track to increase our client base 10x in 2017." The NarrativeDx AI platform analyzes comments at a per-phrase level and identifies sentiment, named doctors and nurses, key themes, procedures, and even readmission risks from complex patient comments. The technology is proven to improve patient experience measures by 80 percent, and increase outpatient referrals by over $50 million.