Macro-Eyes CEO Benjamin Fels Sees Patterns for Success in Using AI to Mine Healthcare Data

Macro-Eyes Digging into Healthcare’s Data

Benjamin Thelonious Fels always had an eye for pattern recognition. The skillset served him well when he secured a degree in art history from Wesleyan University. He carried that degree and perspective into investing as he served as senior trader at WH Trading, a hedge fund where he managed quantitative technology and profitable market teams in Chicago and London. Now Fels is taking a long, hard look at healthcare. He founded Macro-Eyes in 2013 to create artificial intelligence devices that can manage patient schedules, assist in clinical evaluation, and even measure value-based care. “It’s really about assisting decision-making,” Fels says of pattern recognition. “Humans are very good at many things. And I think in many cases they can be even better with the aid of powerful technology.” After securing success on the financial markets, Fels says the Macro-Eyes team looked for other industries where pattern recognition could make a difference. “Healthcare quickly became a focus for us.” Today, Macro-Eyes counts Stanford and St. Joseph’s among its customers. Fels tells Breaking Health host Steve Krupa physicians’ offices and hospitals are treasure troves of useful patient info that can be used to improve care. “I disagree almost violently when people bring out this adage that Google or Facebook know you better than your doctor does,” Fels says. “Inside the walls of a hospital, there is incredibly rich and granular data about each one of us as a patient that is so much more meaningful than either Google or Facebook can learn.”