Surgeons at a hospital in the Northwest Valley have officially completed 5,000 robot-assisted surgical procedures.

The achievement represents a significant milestone for Abrazo Arrowhead Campus, which is known for its surgical programs. More than 1,000 of the procedures were completed in 2019.

Doctors who perform minimally invasive surgery use a variety of techniques to operate with less damage to a patient’s body than in typical open surgery.

Robotic surgery takes this process a step further, as computer guidance and magnified, three-dimensional views of the surgical site allow surgeons to operate with improved precision, flexibility and control.

“Continual innovations in minimally invasive surgery have made robot-assisted procedures an option for patients with a wide range of conditions,” said Jeff Patterson, CEO at Abrazo Arrowhead Campus.

He said the pace of such procedures using robot-assisted technology continues to increase.

“T��� daVinci is often used for gynecology, urology, cancer, hernia repair and other procedures,” Patterson said, referring to the robotic equipment Abrazo uses.

The daVinci uses laparoscopy, a minimally invasive surgery technique, to perform surgery through a series of small incisions, tubes and tiny cameras and instruments — all with the goal of creating a quicker, less painful recovery for patients.

“Robotic surgery is the biggest advancement in surgical care in the last two decades,” said Dr. Dennis Scribner, a gynecologic oncology surgeon at Abrazo Arrowhead Campus. “T��� technology provides the ability for us to perform procedures that have traditionally been done through large incision and now completed with incisions that are less than an inch. This has clearly improved patient care and their quality of life.”

Scriber said Abrazo Arrowhead Campus’s state-of-the-art robotic surgical platforms allow him and his team to offer “excellent care.”

The campus also offers education and training opportunities for surgeons from other hospitals, so they can learn robotic-assisted surgery techniques first-hand.

The hospital is home to Abrazo Health’s General Surgery Residency Program, bringing new surgeons to Glendale who work closely with local physicians  for real-world learning.

“I’m so pleased with the Abrazo Arrowhead Campus, which has supported all of the surgeons in reaching this milestone,” said Dr. Debora Fox-McClary, colorectal surgeon. “T��� OR staff, nurses and technicians worked nonstop to make this possible, and along with the floor nurses and ancillary staff, have made the Abrazo Arrowhead robotics program the best in the region.”

Robotic surgical technology at Abrazo Arrowhead Campus includes:

• daVinci Surgical System, a robotic surgical system “designed to facilitate complex surgery using a minimally invasive approach” and controlled by a surgeon from a console. Three are in service at Abrazo Arrowhead Campus.
• Navio Surgical System, a robotics-assisted platform that “uses CT-free technology for accurate implant sizing and positioning without the need for rods.” It can be used for partial or total knee replacements.

“Our surgical programs offer a collaborative clinical environment and a focus [on] patient advocacy,” Patterson said. “We are committed to providing quality care and a safe environment for each of our patients.”

The post Northwest Valley hospital surpasses 5,000 robotic surgical procedures completed appeared first on �鶹��ýӳ��.

Arizona is becoming an incubation chamber for medical technology innovation, and several businesses stand out from the fold.

AZ Big Media’s AZ Business Magazine recently published its picks for Health Care Leaders of the Year for 2019, chosen by the magazine’s .

�鶹��ýӳ�� spoke with representatives from three rising stars that made the list for health care Delivery Methods.

AdviNOW Medical

James Bates moved to Arizona in 2012, where he ran a $700 million business for , a Texas-based corporation that was later acquired by .

After the acquisition, Bates was looking for a new opportunity — a friend suggested investing in a chain of urgent care centers in the Valley.

“I knew absolutely nothing about urgent care,” Bates recalled. “Digging into the financial analysis, I quickly came to the conclusion that running a medical practice is very tough business.”

Urgent care centers see high fixed costs — providers, facilities, equipment and regulatory requirements are all expensive.

Bates almost gave up on the investment opportunity, but then he had an idea: What if you take the autonomous technology in self-driving vehicles today and use it to automate the intake and administration for urgent care centers?

“We make the doctor still responsible, but we automate everything around the doctor,” Bates said. “We built that financial model with the tech implemented, and it actually reduced the cost of running the clinic by over 70 percent. It was so dramatic that I figured I had no choice but to found the company.”

Bates filed 12 patents and founded the “world’s first fully-automated medical visit.”

“It fundamentally revolutionizes health care,” said Bates, who serves as CEO of AdviNOW Medical. “This invention alone saves Medicare, it enables access for every single person on the planet, and this is how you resolve the disaster of health care that we have in this country as well as the world — this technology.”

One of the greatest costs in today is the fact that people are using the hospital emergency room for their primary care, he said.

“Ultimately, what happens is that people who are on Medicare or  end up using the most expensive point of care, which is the emergency room, for things that they shouldn’t,” Bates said. “When you look at that scenario, the reality is the emergency room is not convenient. No one wants to use the emergency room, but they don’t really know how, or they don’t have access to a simpler and lower-cost point of care.”

The other problem is that people often forget or neglect to manage medications properly when treating chronic conditions. Patients need a follow-up system to help them help themselves, Bates said.

“You need to have primary care service that is cheap; you need to have nurse call centers which are cheap and plentiful,” he said. “Both of those things don’t exist today; it’s impossible for that to happen. What AdviNOW Medical does is it actually allows existing doctors to see three- to four-times more patients per day than they see today.”

At the same time, patient compliance — making sure patients follow through with their treatment plans — is all managed through AdviNOW Medical’s Virtual Provider Assistant, Hannah, which completely automates the clinical visit within regulatory guidelines using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Augmented Reality (AR).

“AdviNOW Medical does all of the triage with the AI; they do all of the follow-up with the AI; they do all of the documentation for the doctor with the AI,” Bates explained. “Because they’re only making decisions now — just like the driver only has to watch the road and touch the steering wheel in their Tesla every 30 seconds — similarly, a doctor just has to confirm what the AI is suggesting on the diagnosis, confirm what the AI is suggesting on the treatment plan, and then press, ‘I agree.’”

Now, doctors can see more patients, and patients receive follow-up, data collection and compliance, almost for free, he said.

The AI handles four main components: the intake, or introductory paperwork; dynamic patient data collection, including History of Present Illness (HPI), using the AI; patient measurement collection using AR; and documentation for the doctor, also known as SOAP (subjective, objective, assessment and plan) notes.

“Ultimately, there is no data entry at all for the provider, and there’s no data collection at all for the provider,” Bates said. “All of that is done, and the provider just reviews and says, ‘I agree,’ relays that information to the patient to make sure they’re compliant with the FDA regulatory environment that we have today.”

AdviNOW Medical currently operates 11 clinics at Safeway grocery stores in the Valley, with a contract to open 600 more in Safeway stores. The company also has two Valley locations with providers on-site, three out-of-state clinics and contracts to open 400 more locations nationwide.

“We’re really excited,” Bates said. “It’s a long road to get there, but hopefully we’ll have another billion-dollar company here in Arizona. Right now, that’s where it’s leading.”

SpotRx

“Someone asked me, ‘What gets you motivated to get out of bed to come to this job?’ and I said, ‘There’s really three things,’” Will Misloski said. “One, I love to build things. I love working in startups, and I love innovating. But the third thing… is I’m actually in an industry that makes a difference in people’s lives, to their benefit.”

Misloski is chief marketing officer at SpotRx, a “next-gen pharmacy solution” that makes consulting pharmacists and picking up prescriptions and over-the counter drugs quick and convenient for consumers.

operates fully-automated pharmacy kiosks placed at strategic locations in the community to give residents the best access possible to pharmacy services. The company recently signed a contract with Green Valley Recreation in southern Arizona to place its kiosks in three of its member centers.

“T��� idea was, how do we ensure that we’re able to give patients 24/7 access to prescription drugs?” Misloski recalled. “Based on everything I’ve heard and the research we’ve done, patients and consumers want to be able to have 24/7 access. And that’s not always the case with pharmacies; they’re not able to do that.”

SpotRx, a subsidiary of , launched in the third quarter of 2018 as a direct-to-consumer brand with two brick-and-mortar pharmacy locations — one in Phoenix, one in — and about 18 pharmaceutical vending machines currently operating in Arizona.

“This year is a big scaling year for us, and we’re looking to expand probably about three- to four-times from where we are today by the end of this year, in terms of what I call ‘kiosk dusting’ — getting kiosks in key locations to our target audiences,” Misloski said.

SpotRx also offers home delivery, because the ultimate goal of the brand is to give consumers more choices, following the model of services like Netflix and Uber, he said.

“What they’ve done is they’ve put control into consumers’ hands; we’re trying to do the same thing,” Misloski said. “It all comes down to putting it in their hands and giving patients access to their medication when and where they want it.”

Another aspect of the technology that has arisen with regards to access is rural health care — while a big-box pharmacy company like Walgreens or CVS might not see the value in opening a full-service location in rural areas, a SpotRx kiosk could easily be added to an existing store in remote locations.

“We’re trying to figure out what’s the best way to insert ourselves in locations that are more rural, that it seems more part [of the] customer’s life, because that’s really [the question] — How do we insert ourselves into a daily part of someone’s life?” Misloski said.

Misloski said his favorite part about working for SpotRx is helping provide a service that helps people.

“Look at our team that we’re building in Arizona,” he said. “T��� people we’re hiring — this is what’s driving them. They’re seeing the difference it’s making in people’s lives and helping them stay adherent to their medicine, and it’s been a cool thing.”

Catalytic Health Partners

Founded by Susan Cordts, who now serves as CEO, is an integrated health care delivery solution of social, behavioral and physical medicine designed for patients with more complex needs.

“We utilize a model of people, technology and data to achieve our goals, believing strongly that there is nothing to be accomplished until our team and the member we are managing have formed an engaged relationship,” Cordts said. “T���reafter technology and data can be used to further our effectiveness and give us objective insights on our performance.”

Catalytic Health Partners gives each of its members internet-connected tablets with telemedicine, telemonitoring, medication reminders, electronically-populated medical records and an educational portal.

“T��� results of our work speak for themselves as we have dramatically improved social, behavioral and physical health outcomes as well as dramatically decreased costs for our populations,” Cordts said.

The tablets and telemonitoring devices Catalytic Health Partners provides to its members offer 24/7 access to a live team member at the company, so members can reach out at any time — from anywhere, Cordts said.

“Irrespective of where one lives, they have access to a provider who knows about them and can readily meet their needs, overcoming many of the barriers of being more rural,” she said. “Additionally, our support team provides them concierge services to coordinate their care and ensure that all the dots are connected to make their care more efficient and effective.”

Cordts said she is proud of her team and “ecstatic” to see their work recognized for the differences they are making in members’ lives.

“We are proving that one can greatly improve outcomes, improve member satisfaction, decrease costs with a highly satisfied team with our model,” she said. “I hope to transform the delivery of health care to one of accountability for outcomes in a more holistic approach, considering social, behavioral and physical medicine needs without forgetting the importance of the human touch.”

The post Health care innovators bringing better medical access to Arizonans through technology appeared first on �鶹��ýӳ��.

Tucson is rapidly becoming a hotbed for innovation in Arizona, witnessing the origins of avant-garde startups and businesses trying to change the world of aerospace, optics, medicine and engineering through technology.

“T��� is big and getting bigger, with companies like Vector and World View coming online,” said Doug Hockstad, assistant vice president of , a program through the University of Arizona that helps university-based startups commercialize new products.

Another growing area is optics, the branch of physics that deals with light and vision — developing products like cameras, sensors, lasers and fiber optics.

The optics industry is beginning to permeate a lot of other tech fields: mining, one of Tucson’s most well-established industries; health, another growing industry in the region; and aerospace and defense.

“T���re’s a startup called Omniscient that started a couple years ago that has created a 360-degree viewing endoscope used for colonoscopies,” Hockstad said. “It could be used for other things as well, but the idea [is] that you get both a forward and a backward view as you’re using it, which is significantly more than currently exists.”

The Tucson area has been dubbed “Optics Valley” because of how much the industry has grown, he said.

“Optics Valley is… a committee that’s housed under the Arizona Technology Council, and they have a list of 40 optics companies,” said Michael Guymon, vice president of the Tucson Metro �鶹��ýӳ��. “Tucson has been known as Optics Valley, because we have one of the best optics schools in the country at the University of Arizona.”

Guymon said he thinks that most people would be surprised to learn that 40 optics companies call Tucson home.

“Most of those companies really fly under the radar,” he said. “Some of them are also startups themselves, but it just goes to show that there’s sort of this burgeoning technology infrastructure that is really being established here in Tucson.”

Large companies are also gaining traction in the Tucson area, Hockstad said.

“I’ve already mentioned and , but even Caterpillar moved one of their main sites down here,” he said.

When its Surface Mining and Technology Division to Tucson in 2016, the company “really planted the flag” in the region, Guymon said.

Many companies have grown and relocated to southern Arizona because they see a base of talented employees in the region, and “it always starts with workforce,” he said.

“We’ve seen this play out very well in the aerospace and defense industry, because obviously we have Raytheon with soon-to-be 13,000 employees out there, and we have 200 companies in southern Arizona that are here because of that presence,” Guymon said. “Not only is it the great school of aerospace and engineering that we have in the College of Engineering at the U of A, but we’re also developing other skills at Pima Community College that are relative to that industry.”

Cost is the other major factor drawing people to Tucson, and many companies are fleeing high living and business expenses in other states, especially California, he said.

“Arizona as a whole is experiencing some of that flight from California,” Guymon said. “Part of the reason for that is because of cost, whether it’s cost of living or cost of labor. Those companies are seeking out Arizona communities, because they can do those expansions or possibly relocate, because their cost of doing business will decrease.”

Tucson also sees a lot of startups — Hockstad’s area of expertise — especially at Tech Launch Arizona.

“We are the commercialization unit for the university,” Hockstad said. “We’re everything, from the very beginning when a researcher says, ‘hey, I think I’ve invented something really cool,’ to the market analysis of that invention, to the patent protection of that invention, to the marketing and license negotiations of that into a company.”

Not every commercialized product results in the launch of a startup business, but a subset of Tech Launch is dedicated to that process, he said.

There is a “growing ecosystem” for startups in Tucson and in Arizona as a whole, Hockstad said. Just in the past year or so there have been three or four venture funds established in the area, he said.

UAVenture Capital, a Tucson-based not affiliated with UA, helps finance startups originating at the university. The fund was founded in 2017 to drive local entrepreneurship and support the commercialization of products resulting from university-based research.

will cover a larger, multi-state region of the Southwest, and , a subgroup of Diamond Ventures, is focused on tech investments, Hockstad said.

New-business incubators are also helping nurture fledgling tech companies: UA announced a downtown Tucson-based incubator called , and the town of Oro Valley is getting ready to launch a new bioscience-based incubator called the , Hockstad said.

He said the most apt comparison to Tucson that he has heard is Austin, Texas, 10 years ago.

“T���re’s been a renaissance downtown; there is a huge number of startups, and a growing number of startups that are launching; there’s new incubators coming online; there’s new venture capital and new sources of funding,” he said.

South by Southwest, the nationally-renowned technology festival held in Austin each March, served as the inspiration for a new festival in Tucson: TENWEST.

Launched in 2014 by , TENWEST is a multi-disciplined festival of arts, sciences, tech and entrepreneurship that takes place each October in downtown Tucson. Participants can “learn, inform, network and explore their community,” according to the .

When asked who some of the biggest influencers in the Tucson area are, Hockstad pointed to Fletcher McCusker, of UAVenture Capital and a UA alumnus himself.

“He has been a driver of local entrepreneurship, the ability to grow companies locally, the ability to attract and fund them so they can stay here if they want,” Hockstad said. “He always stayed here when he started his companies.”

McCusker is also the chairman of the board at , a Tax Increment Finance District funded by state sales tax responsible for revitalizing the buildings and community of downtown Tucson to create a dynamic city center.

“He has been central in revitalizing downtown Tucson,” Hockstad said. “Combining everything he’s doing, he has been a major influence on what’s happening in Tucson.”

Hockstad also had positive words to say about UA Dr. Robert Robbins, who took the position in 2017.

“He is a force to be reckoned with,” Hockstad said about Robbins. “He has great vision, and he’s already implementing a new strategic plan, and a lot of it has to do with working with industry.”

Looking to the future, Guymon and Hockstad each expressed expectation for continued growth.

“We’re going to see higher levels of manufacturing here in our region,” Guymon said. “I think we’re going to see, certainly, an increase in startups and technology that is coming out of the University of Arizona.”

Hockstad said he thinks that within the next few years — though he is not sure how many — Tucson will be nationally-recognized as a hotbed for entrepreneurship.

“I think we’re going to see continued growth and success in this market, and I think we’re going to see some other markets, other places, looking to us for our experience,” he said.

The post Tucson’s burgeoning tech sector reveals a hub of innovation in southern Arizona appeared first on �鶹��ýӳ��.

The Arizona Health Care Association (AHCA) is working to grow the long-term caregiver workforce.

AHCA launched a website that connects people interested in long-term care careers with educational resources and professionals in the field.

“Workforce is a major focus for us this year,” Krysten Dobson, AHCA director of member services, said. “The need for caregivers in long-term care is essential to make sure the quality of care for our residences [is] maintain[ed].”

According to Dobson, the need for long-term caregivers is important because of the influx of Baby Boomers beginning to seek long-term care.

In fact, the American Health Care Association predicts the population of those aged 75 and older will more than triple by 2040.

“Increases in health care demands will be seen throughout the health care industry, with the greatest impacts anticipated in hospitals, skilled nursing, assisted living, and residential care facilities,” the American Health Care Association reports.

Dobson, who manages the website for the association, said the goal is to bring awareness to these career paths and that can meet the growing needs.

“This website sheds a positive light on career paths within long-term care, which are often overlooked,” Dobson said. “When you think of nursing, you often think of emergency rooms and hospitals and long-term care often gets left out. I think having these resources in front of you and spreading the word that there are opportunities in long-term care is important.”

Users can browse the site to find out more about careers in long-term care fields such as nursing, social services, and rehabilitation services. The information on the website includes job descriptions, typical salary, and education requirements, as well as provides connections within the field.

AHCA created the site with help from the Indiana Health Care Association that launched a similar site a couple of years ago.

Sites like AHCA’s could help the physician and nurse shortages that Arizona is facing.

To see the site, click.

The post Arizona Health Care Association launches career path website appeared first on �鶹��ýӳ��.