C-SATS Launches Data-Driven Program in Robotic Surgery at Providence St. Joseph Health

Innovative performance management system now used at medical centers in key west coast markets

Seattle, WA (October 23, 2017) – C-SATS, Inc. has partnered with Providence St. Joseph Health to provide the health system its innovative solution for continuous quality improvement in the area of robotic surgery. Providence St. Joseph Health joins more than 50 hospitals that have adopted C-SATS, a platform for continuous feedback and customized learning that improves surgeon skills, technique, judgment and ultimately outcomes.

C-SATS is being launched at facilities in Providence St. Joseph Health’s California, Oregon and Washington markets, including Swedish First Hill, St. Vincent Medical Center and OPH Providence Portland Medical Center, among others. Surgeons who perform minimally-invasive surgical procedures upload de-identified, HIPAA-compliant videos of their surgeries to C-SATS’ cloud service and then receive objective improvement feedback from a global network of trained reviewers, including surgeons considered the foremost experts in their fields.

C-SATS’ proprietary machine learning technologies and algorithms further breakdown videos to provide additional actionable insights to surgeons; including specific steps in the case, operative times and performance in specific skill domains. C-SATS data output is analyzed and correlated with clinical outcomes, cost and efficiency data to prescribe resources and learning opportunities customized to the specific needs of the surgeon that are most likely to produce the outcomes the surgeon and their health system desire.

“In the same way athletes watch game film to improve their forward passing or curveball, surgeons can watch operating room video to hone their use of robotic equipment,” said Derek Streat, CEO, C-SATS, Inc. “Great professionals – athletes or surgeons – are those who subscribe to ‘on the job mastery’ by continuously working to improve themselves and their results.”

Robotic systems are used to provide minimally invasive surgeries such as hysterectomies, prostatectomies and hernia repairs. Consequently, surgeons in most specialties can use C-SATS to improve skills and standards of care, and in turn patient outcomes. The process is quick, and feedback is gathered in just a few hours. This allows surgeons to retrieve their results when convenient, which means C-SATS can be integrated into their daily routine instead of taking days or weeks away from work.

C-SATS is designed to ensure the safety and confidentiality of both Providence St. Joseph Health surgeons and patients. It complies with the applicable standards of HIPAA and HITECH. The system enables surgeons to gain continuing medical education (CME) credits, as well as a C-SATS certification when regularly using the application. And because C-SATS is a continuous quality improvement program, health systems are often able to comply with state and/or federal regulations to ensure results are afforded peer review protections. 

About C-SATS:

Seattle-based C-SATS, Inc. (www.csats.com) is a venture-backed healthcare technology company. Its mission is to empower the nation’s healthcare institutions to improve the performance of their surgeons and operating room teams continuously, accurately and objectively. Based on technology developed at the University of Washington by a group of surgeons, biostatisticians and engineers, C-SATS’ performance management system utilizes a unique combination of distributed, blinded, pre-qualified reviewers and machine technologies to evaluate surgical skill. After benchmarking and identifying performance, C-SATS recommends targeted curriculum to help improve and track performance. Leading health systems across the U.S., including Adventist Health System, Providence St. Joseph Health, Northwell Health, NYU, Kaiser Permanente and others have completed over two million assessments via C-SATS for a variety of cases, including continuous quality improvement, residency and training.