Operating Rooms Turn To Zoom-Like Technology For The Age Of Covid

Avail Medsystems, a Palo Alto-based startup, is promising a better way for managing operating-room crowding in the age of Covid. The Avail console uses mobile overhead cameras to project live images of a procedure up to 30 times their actual size onto an HD monitor. In Avail’s latest Series B fundraiser, expected to be announced later on Wednesday, billionaire Dan Sundheim’s D1 Capital Partners pumped $100 million into the medical technology company with participation from technology-focused firms 8VC, and repeat investors Lux Capital, Sonder Capital and others. Avail’s remote link to operating rooms works on a subscription pay-for-use model. Avail, which leases the consoles from a manufacturer, is selling a package of the equipment and its own software developed specifically for operating room communication. Earlier in the year, he’d used the Avail console to train students on how to perform complex surgeries at various health systems in York, Pennsylvania. Through his iPad, Nicholson has been able to virtually tap into 1 of almost 100 consoles that Avail has in hospitals and out-patient surgery centers around the U.S. At his insistence, Emory Healthcare is installing nine consoles in its facilities next week.