When something feels wrong with your health, the hardest part is often the beginning. You start searching your symptoms online, but the answers are confusing or even alarming. Getting a doctor’s appointment takes time, and when you finally sit down in the office, it can be difficult to explain exactly what’s been happening.
That’s the gap the team behind MedAsk decided to close.
For co-founders Klemen and Rok Vodopivec, this challenge was deeply personal. Klemen, a pharmacist and data scientist, experienced the strain of a healthcare system struggling with doctor shortages. Rok, a mathematician and computer scientist, recognized the same problem from a data perspective. Both believe people weren’t lacking curiosity about their health, they were lacking structure and guidance.
Together with Vanja Žižić, who helped bring a human touch and market understanding, they created MedAsk, an AI-powered companion designed to help patients understand their symptoms, prepare for appointments, and communicate better with healthcare professionals.
Turning information into understanding
MedAsk helps users describe what’s been troubling them in simple, natural language. The app then asks smart follow-up questions to narrow down possible causes, guided by official medical frameworks such as the WHO, CDC, and ICD-11.
At the end, users receive a structured assessment report that outlines probable conditions, key explanations, and relevant medical terms. They can share this report with their doctor, ensuring the appointment starts with clarity instead of guesswork.
What makes MedAsk stand out is not just its design but its accuracy. To test the system, the founders developed SymptomCheck Bench, a benchmark based on 400 clinical cases modeled after medical school exams. The results were impressive:
- 91% diagnostic accuracy
- 88% triage accuracy (96% in urgent cases)
- 85% accuracy in assigning ICD codes (better than both leading symptom checkers and large AI models)
This combination of precision and reliability shows that MedAsk isn’t just another symptom checker. It’s a clinically informed system that helps users feel understood and helps doctors work more efficiently.
Built to empower patients and support doctors
The impact of MedAsk goes beyond numbers. In user testing, 87% of people said they felt more confident and prepared before seeing their doctor. One early user shared, “It helped me clearly explain my symptoms to my doctor, who could quickly focus on the right diagnosis.”
Physicians involved in early trials confirmed that having structured reports from patients allowed them to dedicate more time to clinical reasoning and less to collecting background information.
This creates a ripple effect of efficiency: patients feel heard, doctors save time, and healthcare systems reduce unnecessary strain.
Momentum, recognition, and next steps
Since its launch, MedAsk has gained strong traction in the digital health space. It won the Social Impact Award, appeared in Marketing Magazin, and was integrated into MedOver.Net, Slovenia’s largest healthcare forum. The team also partnered with Nvidia, MedOver.Net, and Elion Health, marking important steps toward credibility and visibility.
The founders are now preparing to scale internationally, with a focus on the U.S. market through Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs). By offering MedAsk to employers as a healthcare support tool, they aim to help companies improve employee wellbeing while reducing healthcare costs.
In the near future, MedAsk will also integrate with wearable devices to give users a more complete view of their health. Long term, the company envisions connecting directly to electronic health records, creating a seamless system that combines patient input, AI insights, and physician expertise.
The people and the perseverance behind MedAsk
MedAsk’s strength lies in its interdisciplinary team.
Klemen Vodopivec brings deep pharmaceutical and data science knowledge.
Vanja Žižić shapes the company’s communication and market strategy, ensuring the product remains approachable and relatable.
Rok Vodopivec leads the AI development, combining mathematical precision with a passion for healthcare innovation.
A smarter, kinder approach to healthcare
By 2030, the World Health Organization estimates an 11 million doctor shortage worldwide. Meanwhile, 75% of health information online remains unreliable, and up to 40% of emergency room visits are unnecessary.
MedAsk doesn’t promise to solve these problems overnight. But it does offer something powerful — a way for patients to navigate healthcare with confidence and for doctors to work more efficiently.
At Labena Ventures, we’re proud to support MedAsk’s mission to make healthcare more intelligent, more personal, and more humane. We believe when people understand their health better, everyone wins.