Explor
er Surgical, one of several companies working to established remote connections between surgeons and advisors located outside the operating room, introduced a suite of audio/video functionality that it says will established “unprecedented” levels of communications.
The Chicago-based startup says its platform will include augmented reality. According to a release, the HIPAA-compliant system will allow proxies, sales reps and surgeons to use “telestration” to better communicate their guidance. Surgeons and sales reps will be able to zoom in and out on objects, procedural areas and other areas requiring better visibility. It will also allow screen sharing.
The enhanced communication is offered in addition to Explorer’s digitized workflow application, a “playbook” that allows surgeons to plan and coordinate with surgical proctors.
The company said the new functionality is “laying the groundwork” for an upcoming release that will apply artificial intelligence to the data collected through video and the playbook. The collected data already helps surgeons set benchmark on their surgical performance in comparison to other peers, the company said.
In a statement, CEO Jennifer Fried said Explorer started out as an effort to improve OR efficiency. The new tools just more that ball farther up field.
“We are making a significant investment in the latest intelligence that demonstrates a substantial difference in how efficiently a procedure runs and how proficient both the rep and the surgical team are at the procedure,” Fried said in a release. “Improvements in these areas equate to operational excellence, time and money savings, and overall, increased safety,”
In a recent sponsored interview heard on DeviceTalks Weekly podcast, Fried said she was driven to start the company after consulting with co-founder and CMO Dr. Alex Langerman. At the time, Langerman directed the Operative Performance Research Institute at the University of Chicago, which studied OR efficiencies.
Fried said she was shocked when the surgeon told her that half the time, he didn’t have the OR set up as he needed before surgery. Fried and Dr. Langerman co-founded ExplOrer to develop a cloud-based platform to allow for better OR management, including remote connections. The remote connection applications grew as COVID-19 kept sales representatives and proctors out of hospitals and operating rooms.
Competitors in this space including Avail Medsystems and Proximie. Find out more about this burgeoning class of companies here.
