Aaron Narva’s journey from investigating financial crimes to revolutionizing healthcare compliance began during his tenure at Exiger, where he monitored legal compliance for a major international bank recovering from a money-laundering scandal.
While at Exiger, Narva witnessed the power of AI-driven compliance tools firsthand. “We acquired software businesses, including an AI tool that extracted risk data from unstructured public records, and developed technology to identify corruption and sanctions risk in business relationships for major corporations,” Narva explained.
This experience sparked the inception of Conflixis, born from a simple observation: healthcare institutions face corruption risks similar to banks. The medical industry’s well-documented practice of pharmaceutical companies and device manufacturers cultivating close relationships with doctors—through sponsored research, consulting fees, and various perks—has long raised concerns about prescription bias.
Despite mandatory conflict-of-interest disclosures tracked through OpenPaymentsData.com, the problem persists, exposing hospitals to legal vulnerabilities under regulations like the Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS). However, the situation is nuanced, as legitimate collaboration between commercial entities and physicians remains crucial for medical advancement.
Recognizing this complexity, Narva developed an AI-powered SaaS solution to help healthcare providers navigate these challenges. “A large health system might maintain 200,000 relationships between its doctors and vendors,” Narva noted. “Our system identifies which of these relationships pose risks across six different categories.”
The venture gained momentum when Narva shared his vision with eighth-grade friend Joseph Bergen, then BuzzFeed’s director of engineering. Bergen was so convinced by the concept that he left his position to co-found Conflixis.
The platform’s sophisticated approach involves analyzing data from multiple sources: OpenPaymentsData.com, procurement records, claims data, patient outcomes, and conflict-of-interest declarations. It then distills this vast information into actionable insights. “We might examine 5,000 or 10,000 relationships and identify the seven that require immediate attention,” Narva explained.
Beyond risk management, Conflixis offers predictive spending analysis and cost optimization recommendations. The system can identify instances where hospitals may be overspending on equipment due to vendor relationships, rather than making decisions based purely on value and effectiveness.
“Our solution helps hospitals significantly reduce regulatory risk and enhance patient trust,” Narva emphasized. “But it also enables smarter operational decisions about procurement.”
Launched in 2023, Conflixis has quickly secured several clients and recently announced a $4.2 million seed round. The funding was co-led by Lerer Hippeau and Origin Ventures, with participation from mark vc, Springtime Ventures, and pre-seed investor Cretiv Capital.
While the healthcare compliance software market includes established players like Compliatric and Symplr, Conflixis distinguishes itself through its unique approach. The company has adapted existing Large Language Models (LLMs) with specialized pattern recognition capabilities based on the team’s extensive experience in transaction monitoring and corruption investigations.
With revenue currently under $5 million, Conflixis is positioning itself at the intersection of healthcare compliance and artificial intelligence, offering a fresh perspective on managing healthcare industry relationships and procurement decisions.
