“We launched our Azurion platform, hybrid operating room technology for minimally-invasive image-guided operations that the company developed with Dr. Barry T. Katzen of the Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute,” he said, describing it as “one of those once-in-seven-or-eight-year launches” that has the ability to have a major impact. “It represents a complete overhaul of the integrated operating suite, with a lot of software packages.”

Around the world, 20 academic sites began using the platform for cardiovascular procedures, as well as neuroradiology, image guided oncology operations and augmented reality surgical operations, such as for the spine.


Van Houten said that such versatility comes in part from its software-driven nature and thinks that because of this it should “see a lot of traction” going forward.

Another innovation of note is the IntelliSpace Enterprise Edition platform, an enterprise-level clinical informatics application that manages radiology, pathology, genomics data, and integrates all clinical processes and data on a single workstation. In addition, it provides oversight to the C-suite on how practitioners within the network are doing.

“We believe this fills a gap, where the EMR is more transactional and not really following the workflow and clinical practice as the IntelliSpace Enterprise Edition does,” he suggested, adding that this is of particular value now that hospitals are consolidating, and managing the merging of different systems and staffs can prove a daunting challenge.

While more M&A may be on the horizon, “priority number one is continuing the organic growth of profit improvement,” he said, concluding, “the recipe is working; we just need to deliver and stay laser-focused on it.”

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