Asho (Spain), a firm specialising in hospital coding services (that ensure proper billing, faster reimbursements, and regulatory compliance), has joined the EU-LAC Digital Accelerator with Avedian (Argentina), a Healthtech company that developed Compass, an AI-powered hospital copilot that turns healthcare data into real-time clinical and financial intelligence.
Hospital coding is the key to better patient care
Behind the scenes, hospitals juggle a vast amount of data related to patients’ medical diagnoses and treatments.
To speed up activities such as billing, insurance claims or medical record-keeping, all of this information is standardised in alphanumeric codes.
By way of illustration, the ICD-10-CM1 codes capture diagnoses and patient conditions, while the CPT2 codes are mainly used for outpatient procedures3.
Wrong codification can have severe consequences:
- Billing errors,
- Insurance claim denials.
…Which in turn burdens hospitals with lost revenue and costly claim reworks.
In other words, many hospitals, focused as they are on their primary mission – attend patients – delegate the codification process to specialised providers. Among them, Asho, the leading hospital coding firm in Spain, faces a challenge.
Traditional coding systems in hospitals are siloed. They fail to create a real feedback loop between documentation and management. There is, for instance, no real-time dashboard or anomaly detection.
This poses a significant risk of delayed or incorrect clinical documentation and coding errors, which can directly lead to:
- Delayed patient care,
- Inaccurate billing,
- Financial losses,
…and more importantly, compromised patient safety.
Avedian’s AI-powered platform transforms hospital data into actionable insights
Avedian is an Argentine healthtech company that created Compass, a multimodal AI hospital copilot powered by a proprietary Diagnosis-Related Groups (DRG) engine. Compass integrates structured and unstructured hospital data, applies predictive models, and delivers actionable insights for both clinicians and administrators.
| Diagnosis-Related Groups (DRG) algorithms? Diagnosis-Related Groups (DRG) algorithms are specialised computer programmes that classify hospital patients based on (1) similar clinical conditions and (2) expected hospital resource use. |
Compass enhances this methodology by:
- Ingesting structured and unstructured data,
- Detecting anomalies and supporting accurate DRG assignment,
- Predicting length of stay, costs, and complication risks,
- Providing customisable, real-time dashboards for clinicians and managers.
By improving data quality, coding efficiency, and predictive intelligence, Compass shortens decision cycles, optimises hospital resources, and reduces unnecessary hospitalisations.
This is even more relevant in a Spanish context, where hospitalisation typically costs around €5,200 for 7-8 days4 and the country faces a shortage of hospital beds, often forcing patients to spend 3-4 days on stretchers in emergency department corridors5.
PoC, open innovation training, and funding opportunities with the EU-LAC Digital Accelerator support
Asho and Avedian have partnered to join the EU-LAC Digital Accelerator. They will be able to count on the following services:
- PoC design & Prototyping (delivered by IESE Business School):
This service will help turn Avedian’s AI-driven coding and data analytics platform into a tangible solution that Asho’s hospital clients can interact with, providing early evidence of accuracy, usability, and integration capabilities.
- Open Innovation Bootcamp (delivered by IESE Business School):
The Open Innovation Bootcamp provides tools and hands-on training to navigate corporate-startup challenges, such as aligning goals, managing innovation risks, and integrating new technologies (like AI-driven hospital codification).
- Access to public funding (delivered by EBN):
The service will guide the partners through the – complex – landscape of EU and regional public grants, subsidies, and calls for proposals relevant to digital health innovation and hospital coding solutions.
Transforming hospital management with real-time clinical and financial intelligence
For Asho, collaborating with Avedian represents the chance to evolve from a traditional coding service into a comprehensive intelligence solution that goes beyond patient data standardisation.
If the current service primarily addresses the question:
“How can hospitals ensure patient information is accurately coded, regulation-compliant, and reimbursement-ready?”
The upgraded service now addresses a broader challenge:
“How can hospitals analyse patient information in real time to improve coding quality while generating actionable insights for clinical and financial management?”
In practice, this translates into capabilities such as:
- Identifying missing clinical details and alerting physicians before discharge,
- Flagging inconsistencies in billing before claims are sent to insurers, reducing delays in reimbursement,
- Automating follow-up reminders, helping patients adhere to care plans and lowering readmission risk.
Besides, such a service improvement marks a first step for Asho to get into the Latin American market, where the lower health infrastructure investments result in higher hospital management needs.
At the same time, Avedian seeks key outcomes from the collaboration:
- Validate Compass in a Spanish hospital through a proof of concept, demonstrating predictive KPIs such as length of stay, cost, and complication risk.
- Leverage Asho’s client base to scale in Spain, while accelerating Compass’ expansion in Latin America beyond its current presence in Argentina.
[1] ICD-10-CM stands for International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, Clinical Modification. It is the U.S. clinical version used for diagnosis coding, billing, and health data analysis.
[2] CPT stands for Current Procedural Terminology. Maintained by the American Medical Association (AMA), these codes are used in the U.S. to document and bill for medical, surgical, and diagnostic services.
[3] Outpatient care means the patient receives medical services, procedures, or tests without being admitted or staying overnight in a hospital. The patient comes in for treatment or diagnosis and goes home the same day. Outpatient care is typically for less intensive procedures, routine tests, or minor surgeries.
[4] ETKHO, Hospital Engineering, Hospital admissions, beds, annual costs, and the evolution of Spain’s national health system, 2025, <https://www.etkho.com/en/hospital-admissions-beds-annual-costs-and-the-evolution-of-spains-national-health-system/>.
[5] STEM, Doctor shortage: a Europe-wide problem, 2025, <https://www.stem.it/en/community/doctor-shortage-europe-wide-problem/>.
