Indiana University Health System, a top-performing US News and World Report GI program, has expanded its partnership with Virgo Surgical Video Solutions, Inc. to include all endoscopy at the health system’s flagship hospital, Indiana University Hospital, Indianapolis, as well as its newly remodeled and expanded Douglas Rex Endoscopy Center.
Virgo and Indiana University Health have a strong history of partnership. In 2016, the co-founders of Virgo approached Dr. Douglas Rex, a world-renowned, lifelong faculty member gastroenterologist at IU Health, for product feedback. Dr. Rex is notable in endoscopy as the “godfather of modern colonoscopy” and is a globally respected leader in the field. He consistently publishes in highly regarded peer-reviewed medical journals, leads industry organizations, and has moved the practice of endoscopy forward by training thousands of gastroenterologists, publishing textbooks on topics in the field, and lecturing regularly across the globe.
Some of Dr. Rex’s research focuses on the positive impact video recording can have on an endoscopist’s performance. Rex’s research suggests video recording improves endoscopic performance across the board, and is potentially a meaningful way to observe, monitor, and improve endoscopic quality longitudinally over time- much like dash cams or police body cameras.
Due to this research focus as well as Virgo’s streamlined recording platform, Virgo installed two devices on a pilot basis at the Douglas Rex Endoscopy Center at Springmill in Carmel, IN. Over the course of a year, research coordinators and Dr. Rex’s team used Virgo to seamlessly capture, consolidate, and manipulate video data for quality improvement and research initiatives.
Dr. Rex’s research staff cites Virgo’s ease of use as a meaningful game changer in how they perform their day to day job functions, and see Virgo as an important step in making clinical research and practice improvement realizable. Given Virgo’s ability to scale, manage large amounts of delicate, high-quality data, and functional capabilities, IU Health is poised to continue improving the quality of its endoscopic practice, augmenting its training and research capabilities, and providing a best-in-class patient experience across its locations.
Virgo is excited to announce that due to its positive experience using Virgo in a limited capacity at DRES Springmill, IU Health has decided to expand its partnership with Virgo to install Virgo on all endoscopy towers across the IU Health Network, beginning with the Glen Lehman Endoscopy Center at IU Health University Hospital, Indianapolis, and the remaining 7 outpatient procedure rooms at Douglas Rex Endoscopy Center Springmill, Carmel, IN.
This marks another university expansion, on the heels of similar expansions at Northwestern University and the University of Virginia. Virgo and IU will continue working together to move the practice of endoscopy forward through providing valuable quality management, research facilitation, and training assistance through video capture and analyses as the expansion progresses, and are excited to move forward together into the new decade.