Memphis is the first city to be part of Informed Surgical Benefit, an employee benefits program that helps patients find a surgeon.
The program officially launched on Jan. 1 in Memphis, with five large local employers signed on. Informed uses surgical robot data, outcome data, prices, and an interview process to find top surgeons.
“We’re focused deeply on Memphis right now,” Sal Brogna, CEO of Informed Surgical said. “[Memphians] have the spirit of innovation, and they’re willing to engage in these ideas.”
In addition to launching in Memphis, Brogna said Informed is considering a headquarters in Memphis or Nashville.
“That’s probably the right place to build the nucleus of the people who have to support the business,” Brogna said. “The technology people could be outside, but the people who have to do customer interfaces and interact with clients, it might be best to have them in the Southeast region.”
He cites the large concentration of medical companies as a reason for considering the region for a headquarters.
Brogna said Informed, whose staff is currently all remote, plans to open its headquarters this year with 10 to 20 employees. But, as the company projects to grow nationwide, the office could grow into the hundreds of employees.
New model for finding surgeons
Informed is marketing their service as a way for employers to save money on health care costs by limiting the number of complications and reducing recovery time before returning to work.
Informed is trying to accomplish this by referring its clients’ employees to one of the surgeons it has deemed a “great” surgeon rather than referring to a reputable hospital, where one of several surgeons could perform a procedure.
“You say I'm going to the best name hospital in the area,” Brogna said. “Well, you are, but it's dubious whether you're going to get great surgery, and you're going to pay a lot more for that.”
In surgery, there has been a “center of excellence” model. Informed hopes to change the industry to a “surgeon of excellence” model.
However, even a larger employer with the Informed Surgical Benefit still can only use this new model in specific cases.
Currently, the program is limited to five surgeries performed by da Vinci Robotic Surgical System, which was created by Intuitive, where Brogna worked for 20 years and was COO before leaving to start Informed.
Surgeries that fall under Informed's model are gallbladder removal, hernia repair, colon removal, uterus removal, and abdominal wall reconstruction.
While da Vinci robots only perform chest, abdominal, and a few mouth procedures, Informed hopes to expand into other procedures, using data from existing orthopedic and neurosurgical robots.
“There are 23 kinds of major robotic procedures,” Dr. John Porterfield, chief medical officer for Informed, said. “We will support all of those by the end of 2025.”
Finding 'great' surgeons
To become an Informed surgeon, there is an application process. As part of this process, surgeons must give consent to Intuitive to release their anonymized surgery data — surgical robot data and outcome data — to Informed for review.
Informed’s clinical advisory board helps define what a "great surgeon" encompasses and creates a curriculum for surgeons who don’t meet the criteria to be an Informed surgeon, so they can work to improve to eventually meet the criteria.
Dr. Todd Tillmanns, who is a gynecologic oncologist at West Cancer Center & Research Institute and is affiliated with multiple Memphis-area hospitals, is a member of Informed’s clinical advisory board.
In addition, the benefit of Informed sending its clients' employees to its approved surgeons, Informed pays the surgeons an additional 20% more for the surgery, further incentivizing surgeons to join the program.
“We're starting with the best, and that's going to create a competitive environment, for them to compete, to be better,” Porterfield said. “We're incentivizing them financially when they are better, which also drives that desire to compete. We couldn't do that ethically if we also weren't providing the teaching and training opportunities to get people from good to great.”
The Informed Surgical Benefit is only available to very few at the moment, but Informed hopes to expand nationwide to provide surgery with fewer complications and lower health care costs.
Brogna sees Informed's program as being available in almost every major metropolitan area in five years.
“We don't want any human in the United States having a non-informed surgeon," Porterfield said.
