Vicarious Surgical Inc. (“Vicarious Surgical” or the “Company”), a next-generation robotics company seeking to improve the cost, efficiency, and outcomes of surgical procedures, today announced it has signed collaborative Center of Excellence (“COE”) agreements with both HCA Healthcare, one of the nation’s leading providers of healthcare services comprising 182 hospitals, and University Hospitals Ventures, the innovation and commercialization arm of University Hospitals (UH), a comprehensive health system with more than 20 hospitals, over 50 health centers, and over 200 physician offices in northern Ohio. As part of these agreements, HCA Healthcare and UH Ventures will each provide user input through their system physicians as the Company advances the design of its Vicarious Surgical Robot. Through these distinct collaborations, Vicarious Surgical will gain unique exposure to the detailed surgical workflows at each of these partners and incorporate direct surgeon and administrator feedback into its total product ecosystem to meet the needs of major US hospital systems. Additionally, clinical and human-centered design experts from both HCA Healthcare and UH will assist Vicarious Surgical to further enhance product design, helping ensure readiness for streamlined adoption upon FDA Approval.

“Establishing our Center of Excellence model with two leading U.S. health systems offers significant validation of our system’s in-hospital potential and creates an incredible opportunity to integrate real-world surgeon experiences and feedback as we work toward our system’s finalization,” said Adam Sachs, CEO and co-founder of Vicarious Surgical. “These partnerships establish two powerful innovation conduits through which our team gains unprecedented access to understanding and addressing the complexities of surgical workflow and hospital integration while building commercial expertise. Meanwhile, our clinical partners – HCA Healthcare and University Hospitals – become the first health systems to access our minimally invasive surgical robot and directly influence its advancement. We could not be more excited to partner with two of the top institutions in the country as we progress on our path to improve surgery for patients, surgeons, hospitals, and payors.”

“Our surgical and innovation teams are on the cutting edge of new care technologies designed to benefit patients,” said Dr. Joseph Sabik, Chairman, Department of Surgery at University Hospitals. “Collaborating with Vicarious Surgical on their Center of Excellence model for training and next generation surgical robotics provides our team a thrilling front row seat in the quest to improve the landscape for minimally-invasive surgery that enhances patient care and clinical outcomes.”

“University Hospitals’ goal is to be the most trusted health care partner in Northeast Ohio,” explained Kendra Gardiner, Director of Product Strategy for UH Ventures. “As part of this strategy, UH is dedicated to accelerating discovery, innovation and translation of scientific breakthroughs that address unmet clinical and social needs to enhance the lives of our patients, our communities and the world. We also aim to be the partner of choice by creating and sharing value together. This new relationship with Vicarious Surgical is one example of how we are advancing this objective.”

About Vicarious Surgical

Founded in 2014, Vicarious Surgical is a next generation robotics company developing a disruptive technology with the goals of increasing the efficiency of surgical procedures, improving patient outcomes, and reducing healthcare costs. The Company’s novel surgical approach uses proprietary human-like surgical robots to transport surgeons inside the patient to perform minimally invasive surgery. The Company is led by an experienced team of technologists, medical device professionals and physicians, and is backed by technology luminaries including Bill Gates, Vinod Khosla’s Khosla Ventures, Innovation Endeavors, Jerry Yang’s AME Cloud Ventures, Sun Hung Kai & Co. Ltd and Philip Liang’s E15 VC. The Company is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. Learn more at www.vicarioussurgical.com.

About HCA Healthcare

Nashville-based HCA Healthcare is one of the nation’s leading providers of healthcare services comprising 182 hospitals and approximately 2,300 ambulatory sites of care, including surgery centers, freestanding ERs, urgent care centers, and physician clinics, in 20 states and the United Kingdom. HCA Healthcare subsidiary Health Insight Capital makes equity investments in early-stage companies that are selected to provide innovative solutions for use in health system operations and is an investor in Vicarious Surgical. Please click here to connect with HCA Healthcare on social media.

About UH Ventures

UH Ventures is the innovation and commercialization arm of University Hospitals (UH), a comprehensive health system with annual revenues in excess of $5.0 billion, more than 20 hospitals, more than 50 health centers and outpatient facilities, and over 200 physician offices located throughout 16 counties. UH’s goal is to be the most trusted health care partner in Northeast Ohio and UH Ventures furthers this objective by shaping new products, services, experiences, and companies that improve the lives of patients and caregivers. To advance the UH mission, UH Ventures strives to support a diverse portfolio of value-adding opportunities in health care, enhance the distinct and unique capabilities of the system, and foster a culture of discovery, innovation, and entrepreneurship within UH and the larger community. For caregivers, UH Ventures provides the tools and resources needed to nurture, validate, and advance ideas sparked by day-to-day insights. For potential partners, UH Ventures seeks to be a dynamic living laboratory where both clinical and product insights can help accelerate emerging technologies tackling health care’s most pressing problems. For more information, visit https://ventures.uhhospitals.org. Follow UH Ventures on LinkedIn.