Weeks after announcing a partnership with General Atlantic, the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) has announced a new collaboration with Deerfield Management.
The goal: to leverage data and technology to improve musculoskeletal health and longevity.
On Nov. 13, HSS announced the launch of the Alliance for Innovation in Movement (AIM). This follows the Oct. 15 announcement that HSS was partnering with General Atlantic to create an independently operated national platform of ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) dedicated to patient-centered orthopedic and spine outpatient care.
The initial building block for that platform came via the purchase of Plano, Texas-based Legent Health.
“This collaboration, in combination with our partnership with General Atlantic, allows HSS to leverage more than 160 years of best-in-class expertise in clinical care and extend our reach to serve more patients closer to where they live,” Bowei Hao, vice president of strategy and business development at HSS, told ASC News.
AIM is created to drive the development of new medical devices, therapeutics, AI-enabled software and other innovations that improve movement, performance, patient care and healthy longevity.
Furthermore, this new initiative aims to combine HSS’s clinical, research and innovation expertise in orthopedics, rheumatology, sports medicine and related fields with Deerfield’s investment, health care operations, research and development (R&D), analytics and AI infrastructure.
Hao noted that while the collaboration with Deerfield is centered on advancing innovations in movement and not specifically on ASCs, there will undoubtedly be a strong connection between the work coming out of AIM and surgery centers.
“We believe that partnering with Deerfield offers a powerful new opportunity to achieve our mission by co-developing and supporting innovations that have the potential to transform clinical practice, patient outcomes and overall quality of life for the better,” Bryan Kelly, HSS president, CEO and surgeon-in-chief emeritus, said in a press release.
HSS is a New York-based academic medical center focused on musculoskeletal health. An affiliate of Weill Cornell Medical College, HSS has a main campus in New York and additional facilities in New Jersey, Florida and Connecticut, plus the Long Island and Westchester County regions of New York State.
In addition to patient care, HSS’s research institute includes 20 laboratories and 300 staff members dedicated to improving musculoskeletal health by preventing degeneration, repairing tissues and promoting tissue regeneration.
Deerfield is a New York-based investment management firm. The company’s portfolio includes various health care companies such as Conventus Flower Orthopedics, Pipeline Health and Cardiovascular Associates of America.
The alliance seeks to blend traditional R&D skills, such as prototyping and engineering, with operational expertise, regulatory knowledge and real-world validation, concentrating on high-impact technologies in the musculoskeletal health and rheumatology markets.
Cross-functional teams such as Deerfield Discovery and Development, Deerfield’s internal therapeutics R&D, and Deerfield Intelligence, the firm’s data and AI division, will collaborate with HSS clinicians and scientists to evaluate and implement new technologies for patient benefit.
“As a firm committed to innovation, we are very excited about HSS and Deerfield’s ability to promote active, healthy living during a time when demographic changes will create significant need and demand,” Jim Flynn, managing partner at Deerfield, said in a statement. “The strengths and capabilities of HSS and Deerfield are highly complementary, and the potential to develop valuable innovations is remarkable.”
