Oracle Health is collaborating with health tech company Theator to integrate artificial intelligence-powered operating room analytics into its platform.
Theator, founded in 2018, provides surgical intelligence solutions that capture surgical video footage and then uses AI to analyze it and cross-reference electronic health record (EHR) data. Surgical teams can benefit from automated reporting that is more clinically accurate, optimized for billing and tailored to individual preferences, with no transcription or dictation required, according to company executives.
Surgical documentation remains largely manual and retrospective, often created hours or days after a procedure from memory. Peer-reviewed research published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons found operative reports written from memory were only 72.8% accurate.
Oracle Health and Theator plan to leverage AI to automate the process and help surgeons systematically capture what happened, learn from it, and translate those insights into improvements in quality, safety and efficiency, executives said.
The integration delivers reports directly into Oracle Health EHR workflows, connecting surgical intelligence with the broader patient record and revenue cycle infrastructure. Accurate documentation at the time of surgery means fewer coding gaps and a financial record that actually reflects the complexity of each case.
For health systems, more precise documentation can improve coding precision, reduce revenue leakage and support quality improvement initiatives, according to the companies.Â
Oracle Health, owned by tech giant Oracle after it acquired EHR company Cerner in 2022, is ramping up its AI capabilities while also expanding its AI ecosystem through partnerships. The company aims to integrate AI capabilities into highly specialized clinical settings beyond ambient documentation.
Theator's partnership with Oracle Health "changes the architecture of how surgical data enters the health record," according to Tamir Wolf, M.D., Ph.D., CEO of Theator.Â
“That is the inflection point. When surgical data flows into the EHR with the same structure and reliability as every other clinical encounter, you unlock capabilities that were never possible before: system-wide quality benchmarking, real-time safety intelligence, standardized surgical care across institutions. The operative report is where it starts. It is not where it ends," Wolf said in a press release.
“Clinical documentation has reached almost every setting in medicine, but it has stopped at the door of the operating room,” said Seema Verma, executive vice president and general manager, Oracle Health and Life Sciences, in a statement. “By teaming with Theator, we can help surgeons leverage technology that understands what is actually happening during surgery and use AI to streamline the documentation process to reduce cognitive burden. This is another example of our commitment to working with a broad ecosystem of companies to achieve meaningful transformation by expanding choice for customers, accelerating adoption of new capabilities, and delivering the connected, scalable technology foundation needed for lasting change.”
During Oracle's fourth-quarter earnings call June 10, company leadership said Oracle Health would soon roll out a "completely new AI version" of the Cerner hospital and clinical patient management system.Â
Executives project that the Oracle Health business will grow by double-digits in fiscal year 2027.
"We believe AI is about to completely revolutionize healthcare," company leadership said in a press release issued with Q4 and full year financial results. "Oracle Health AI systems will allow doctors to spend less time with computers and more time with patients. AI molecular design models are expected to enable researchers to accelerate the development of life-saving drugs. Oracle's new AI clinical trial system is designed to enable regulators to rapidly review and approve clinical trial test results enabling patients to get access to new drugs sooner. AI will make healthcare better, more accessible, and less expensive."
As Oracle has sharpened its focus on AI it also has initiated mass layoffs over the past year. The company shed 21,000 jobs, almost 13% of its workforce, in the past fiscal year tied to a massive corporate restructuring and shifting operations toward cloud-based AI services, CNBC recently reported.