Hippocratic AI vs K Health (2026)
Hippocratic AI builds a library of AI agents that phone and text patients for health systems, health plans and drug and device makers, from follow up after discharge to intake and trial enrollment. The agents do not diagnose or prescribe, and they pass a call to a nurse when it needs one. They run on Polaris 6.0, the company's own family of four models, listed from $2.50 to $15 an hour at the lowest rate. Customers shown include Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic, WellSpan and Pfizer. K Health sells PatientGPT, a single front door that a health system runs under its own brand across its website, phone line and patient portal. It answers a patient's questions from their own record, takes a clinical history and books the right visit, following a policy each health system writes, and an automated reviewer checks every conversation against that policy. Atlantic Health runs it inside MyChart. K also sells round the clock care from its own physicians. The two meet patients for different jobs. Hippocratic is a workforce of narrow agents a buyer deploys program by program, paid by the hour; K is one assistant that sits where patients already log in and carries them from question to appointment. Their evidence differs too: K's clinical engine was compared with physicians' decisions across 461 virtual urgent care visits in a 2025 Annals of Internal Medicine study, while Hippocratic tests each model with thousands of clinicians on simulated calls. Hippocratic names HITRUST e1 and SOC 2; K names no security certification. A plan or drug maker running outreach programs fits Hippocratic, and a health system rebuilding its digital front door fits K.
- More than 1,000 ready agents cover outreach, intake, scheduling, follow up after discharge, adverse event intake and trial enrollment, and customers can build more with its agent builder.
- Polaris 6.0 comes in four sizes with hourly rates published, so a buyer can match model cost to how clinical each conversation is.
- Each model version is tested by thousands of US licensed clinicians on simulated calls, with results published for every Polaris release.
- It names HITRUST e1 certification and SOC 2, with the reports available through its trust portal on request.
- PatientGPT answers patients from their own medical record and books the visit it recommends, sending an intake summary ahead to the clinician.
- Each health system writes the policy that decides where patients go and when a nurse takes over, and every conversation is checked against it.
- Its clinical engine has peer reviewed evidence: a 2025 Annals of Internal Medicine study at Cedars-Sinai compared its recommendations with physicians' decisions across 461 visits.
- Health systems can add K's own board certified physicians for 24/7 virtual primary and specialty care alongside the software.
This comparison is published by AI Health Index, an independent research platform that compares healthcare AI vendors objectively. Hippocratic AI and K Health are each graded against the same capability taxonomy, from each vendor's own public materials and the regulatory record, under the AI Health Index verification standard. No vendor pays for placement, and no vendor has reviewed this page. How this evidence is graded
Plain facts
| Fact | Hippocratic AI | K Health |
|---|---|---|
| Primary category | Patient Voice Agents | Patient Voice Agents |
| Founded | 2023 | 2016 |
| Headquarters | Palo Alto, California | New York, New York, United States |
| Website | hippocraticai.com | khealth.com |
Side by Side
Select any grade to read the note behind it.
Each vendor in one paragraph
Written to be quoted whole. Each paragraph states what the AI Health Index verified about the vendor, with the caveats attached.
Hippocratic AI is a Palo Alto company that sells AI agents for patient calls and texts to health systems, health plans and pharma and medtech companies, running on its own Polaris 6.0 models priced from $2.50 to $15 an hour at the lowest rate. Its more than 1,000 agents handle work that is not diagnostic, such as outreach, intake, scheduling and follow up after discharge, book into the customer's EHR through more than 50 reported integrations including Epic, and hand calls to nurses when needed. It publishes clinician testing results for each model version and holds HITRUST e1. Less settled are its privacy terms, since its policy covers only its website and no business associate terms are published; customer calls also train its models, and a symptom assessment skill routes appointments by urgency with no regulatory position stated.
Source: AI Health Index, November 2026
K Health, a New York company founded in 2016, sells PatientGPT to health systems as a branded front door that answers patients from their own records, takes histories and books care, under rules each health system writes. Its clinical engine has a 2025 Annals of Internal Medicine study behind it, and K separately offers 24/7 virtual care from its own physicians. Partners include Atlantic Health, Hartford HealthCare, Penn Medicine and Novant Health. Missing are a price, a security certification and business associate terms for PatientGPT, and its patient conversations have no published error rate, while it steers patients to a level of care with no regulatory position stated.
Source: AI Health Index, November 2026
Questions buyers ask
How does Hippocratic AI compare with K Health?
Hippocratic AI and K Health both put AI in conversation with patients for health systems, but in different shapes. Hippocratic sells many task specific agents for outreach and inbound calls, used by health plans and drug makers as well as providers, on hourly priced models. K Health sells PatientGPT, one assistant a health system brands as its own front door, which answers from the patient's record and books visits, and it can add K's own physicians. From the AI Health Index, drawn from each vendor's own published materials and the regulatory record, verified November 7, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
Do Hippocratic AI or K Health diagnose patients or decide how urgent a problem is?
Neither diagnoses. Hippocratic AI states its agents do not diagnose or prescribe, though one of its Polaris 6.0 skills assesses symptoms against a protocol to route appointments by urgency. K Health's PatientGPT steers patients to a level of care under each health system's policy, and its demo has it advise a same day visit for a child's fever. No regulatory position covers either step at Hippocratic AI or K Health. From the AI Health Index, drawn from each vendor's own published materials and the regulatory record, verified November 7, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
How much do Hippocratic AI and K Health cost?
Hippocratic AI lists hourly rates for its Polaris 6.0 models at the lowest rate: $2.50 for Nano, $5 for Flash, $10 for Pro and $15 for Ultra, with deals scoped in a meeting. K Health publishes no price for PatientGPT or for its staffed virtual care, and health systems can request sandbox access to test the product before talking terms. From the AI Health Index, drawn from each vendor's own published materials and the regulatory record, verified November 7, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
What evidence supports Hippocratic AI and K Health?
K Health's clinical engine was studied at Cedars-Sinai in a 2025 Annals of Internal Medicine paper covering 461 virtual urgent care visits, where reviewers judged 2.8 percent of the AI's recommendations potentially harmful against 4.6 percent of physicians' decisions; no study covers PatientGPT's own patient conversations.
Hippocratic AI tests each model with thousands of clinicians on simulated calls and reports 99.90 percent correct advice for Polaris 6.0, and a 2025 peer reviewed WellSpan study of 1,878 patients covered its screening outreach. From the AI Health Index, drawn from each vendor's own published materials and the regulatory record, verified November 7, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
How is Lumeris Tom different from Hippocratic AI and K Health?
Lumeris Tom is the AI agent Lumeris sells with its value based care partnerships, where Hippocratic AI and K Health sell their agents as software. Tom's engine ranks each patient's next step from claims and EHR data, then calls or texts patients and runs symptom checks on licensed Schmitt-Thompson triage content, passing a summary to the care team. Lumeris publishes no price and no HIPAA or business associate terms for Tom. From the AI Health Index, drawn from each vendor's own published materials and the regulatory record, verified November 7, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
Related comparisons
Other published head to head assessments involving these vendors or their closest peers.
Neither vendor publishes business associate terms for its patient facing product, a model provider for the conversation, or results broken out by age, language or other patient group. Hippocratic AI's only privacy policy covers its website and apps, its trust portal releases reports only on request, and patient calls train its models. K Health names no security certification for PatientGPT, gives no price, and publishes no error rate for the conversations PatientGPT holds with patients. Both route some patients by urgency, through Hippocratic's symptom assessment skill and K's triage, without stating a regulatory position.
Ask Hippocratic AI which protocol its symptom assessment uses, who decides the disposition for calls it settles, and whether a customer can keep its calls out of training.
Ask K Health what its business associate agreement covers, which controls a security review will see, and which conversations PatientGPT settles without a nurse.