BOSTON—February 10, 2023— In the last eight years, the surgical robotics industry quadrupled to more than $3 billion and is positioned to continue to balloon throughout the next decade. Bain & Company’s Surgical Robotics Report, published today, shares the increasing interest, advancing technologies and current adoption challenges. More than three-fourths of surgeons surveyed expressed interest in surgical robotics, however, only 53% were currently using them. Currently, general surgery is the most advanced surgical robotics technology, however indicators suggest that orthopedics and neurosurgery will grow substantially.

“Orthopedics and neurosurgery benefit from technology and trainings that are already happening with medical residents,” said Mayuri Shah, partner at Bain & Company. “With the technology and training accessible for many of these specialties, such as spinal surgeries, usage is bound to accelerate significantly in the near future. In addition to increased trainings, OEMs can leverage existing surgical robotic platforms where there is familiarity and usage for new surgeries and specialties.”

Technology, innovation and artificial intelligence continues to have significant influence on surgical robotics. While some specialties have the platforms and the training today, even the areas that look to be slower to adopt have strong opportunity. For example, soft robotics could eventually solve difficult access and navigation issues in endovascular surgery.

Successful med-tech companies and OEMs will take a customer-centric approach to the future of surgical robotics, addressing the current challenges to adoption and nuanced priorities by specialty and healthcare location. Bain’s survey of surgeons ranked up-front equipment costs as both the most important consideration when making a purchase, as well as the third largest barrier.

“OEMs will want to offer flexible financing options, in consideration of implant, disposables, to meet the preferences of each customer, said Jason Asper, partner at Bain & Company. “Understanding the customer needs and preference for financing is critical. In addition, future surgical robotic market leaders and entrants should consider lower cost, smaller footprint robotic offerings, and focus on the efficiency to be achieved as new procedures are available, reducing per procedure cost.”

OEMs should focus on the following key priority areas as surgical robotics use continues to grow in the coming years:

• Cost and Financing of Surgical Robotics: According to Bain’s survey, surgeons at hospitals and ASCs ranked up-front equipment costs as both the most important consideration when making a purchase and the third largest barrier to adoption. Flexible financing options can help. For instance, according to our survey, hospitals prefer all-cash financing, whereas nearly half of ASCs want capital leases.
• Site of Care: The needs of each customer varies. As healthcare continues to move to outpatient customers will have different needs in ASCs vs acute settings. OEMs will want to consider how to best service the market. For example, ASCs want vendor support for routine maintenance, whereas hospitals are more likely to want to train employees to service robotics.
• Decision Maker: It will be important to understand the needs of the decision makers when reviewing the surgical robotics options. Clinical outcomes will be priority to all stakeholders, however some teams  may prioritize revenue growth and surgeon recruiting and retention.
• Specialty: As surgical robotics take off during the next decade, we’ll begin to see more specialized platforms and technologies. Orthopedic surgeons are looking for one robot to be able to perform a number of procedures, while Neurosurgeons see surgical robotics as an opportunity to overcome distance barriers and want robots that can operate remotely over greater distances, providing care from miles away.
• Advancements in Technology: OEMs must continue to be out in front on technology or they can be disrupted – artificial intelligence, 5G, virtual/mixed reality and other technological advancements can significantly enhance capabilities of the robotics today. In addition, OEMs should focus on strong data & analytics to best leverage data capture across the continuum of care to improve outcomes.

Surgical robotics has changed and grown immensely over the past several years. This is just the beginning, as the next decade will bring a new wave of growth, advancement and adoption.

Editor's Note: For more information or interview requests please contact: Dan Pinkney, Bain & Company, tel. +1 646 562 8102, email: dan.pinkney@bain.com