Running an ambulatory surgery center (ASC) is not for the faint of heart. ASC leaders are navigating tight margins, stricter-than-ever quality reporting, lean staffing resources, payer squeeze, and a relentless push to be profitable without proper support. And yet, the ASC market is booming. The number of Medicare-certified ASCs has…
Editor's Note Adapting general-purpose humanoid robots already trained on large-scale industrial tasks for use in surgery could provide a solution to burnout, understaffing and other problems. This is the primary takeaway of a July 9 article from UC San Diego detailing the work of robotics expert Michael Yip, who has…
Editor's Note Epic has introduced a free training program to help nurses and medical assistants reduce time spent using electronic health records (EHRs), addressing a key factor contributing to widespread burnout. According to a recent article in Fierce Healthcare, the Nursing SmartUser classes launched during National Nurses Week and aim…
Editor's Note A Florida-based surgeon successfully performed a prostate cancer surgery on a patient in Angola—7,000 miles away—marking a major milestone in transcontinental robotic telesurgery, according to a June 17 article from ABC News. The procedure, conducted by Dr. Vipul Patel of Advent Health’s Global Robotic Institute, is reportedly the…
Editor's Note Capability to achieve results on par with or better than humans using laparoscopic techniques demonstrates the extent to which autonomous surgical robots are rapidly evolving toward clinical readiness, according to John Hopkins University robotics researchers writing may 27 in IEEE Spectrum. The system detailed in the article, Johns…
Editor's Note The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is deploying generative AI across all its centers by June 30, aiming to accelerate drug reviews and reduce bureaucratic workload even as experts and critics express worries about data security, reliability, and other safety concerns. Medical Design & Outsourcing reported the…
Editor's Note Recent reporting from Fierce Healthcare highlights two notable technology advances that promise to impact surgical patients and caregivers: an AI-driven blood pressure monitoring system and a remote-controlled endovascular robotics platform. The first development, from BD, is designed to help clinicians anticipate and manage dangerous blood pressure drops during…
Editor's Note Constitution Billing and Financial Services (CBFS), the revenue‑cycle arm of Constitution Surgery Alliance (CSA), has signed a commercial agreement with health tech startup Milagro to deploy its autonomous medical‑coding platform across CSA’s 26 partnered and managed ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). The partnership was announced in an April 4 CSA press…
Editor's Note Northwestern Medicine has partnered with robotic technology firm Vitestro to test and validate the safety and effectiveness of autonomous blood draw technology, according to a March 20 announcement from the health system. The multi-year collaboration centers on Aletta, billed as the world’s first Autonomous Robotic Phlebotomy Device (ARPD),…
Editor's Note Olympus Corp has introduced an AI-driven surgical planning tool designed to enhance precision in liver, lung, and kidney procedures by converting CT and MR scans into real-time 3D models. Meanwhile, the 16-year partnership between GE HealthCare and NVIDIA has evolved to focus on automating routine imaging tasks, such…