Hospital-level operational policies regarding the most effective way to deploy a surgical robot are necessary in order to maximize clinical outcomes and minimize the costs associated with its use, says a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign expert who studies innovation in health care.

In the field of health care technology, surgical robots are known to deliver superior surgical quality, albeit at a much higher cost. But questions remain about when and how often to employ them, making it imperative for hospitals to codify policies that leverage the quality benefits of robot-assisted surgery while simultaneously managing cost, said Ujjal Kumar Mukherjee, a professor of business administration at Gies College of Business.