Much of healthcare is done remotely. Is surgery next?

As healthcare goes increasingly remote, one service has been largely left behind: surgery.

The concept was shown to be possible in 2001, when doctors in New York remotely operated a robotic arm to remove the gallbladder of a patient in France. But widespread adoption was held back by practical issues like network lag times. One fraction of a second delay could prove deadly.

In recent years, though, technology has advanced—5G has minimized lag times, and more transcontinental surgeries have been tested out. In June 2025, experts from top robotic surgical companies published a roadmap for conducting remote robotic-assisted surgery and procedures in the World Journal of Surgery with network, cybersecurity, and infrastructure standards.

Investors are now betting millions of dollars that robotic telesurgery is ready to go mainstream. “In the past 25 years, all of the elements around technology, what it needed to do, the cost…started falling into place,” Brian Miller, CEO of startup Sovato, told Healthcare Brew. “Now is the time for it to scale.”

Some background. Sovato, founded in 2022, aims to provide a platform that helps hospitals build and scale telesurgery and other remote care delivery while adhering to those June 2025 best practice guidelines, which Sovato leaders helped write.

The company plans to launch its first remote procedure programs with health system partners starting in early 2027, said Miller, who joined the company in April after 23 years at robotic surgery market leader Intuitive Surgical.

Miller said this technology will allow specialized surgeons in urban areas to operate remotely on patients located in rural areas that lack access to those surgeons. This way, patients wouldn’t have to travel as far for care.

“There is a really clear need for it [to help with the] shortage of healthcare workers and just, quite frankly, lack of access to good care if you live in some outer-lying rural areas,” Miller said.

Sovato has nabbed $41 million in funding as of November 2025, when it closed a Series B funding round led by venture capital firm Beringea. Investors also include Intuitive Surgical and remote care firm Teladoc Health.

Sovato also partners with AT&T to use its Wavelength network, which is built to minimize lag time while providing secure connections that don’t go through the public internet, per AT&T’s website.

Concerns remain. Mathias Unberath, John C. Malone associate professor in the department of computer science at the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering, told Healthcare Brew it’s “fantastic” companies like Sovato are trying to increase access to specialist surgeons in this way.

The “elephant in the room” is that the rural hospital where the patient gets a surgery would have to already have its own expensive robotic surgical system in order for a remote physician to operate, he said. Given the current cost of the technology, it may be difficult for hospitals with less resources to afford that.

Intuitive charges between $600,000 and $3.1 million for its da Vinci surgical system, typically inclusive of one year of service, with an additional $95,000 to $225,000 in annual service fees, according to an April SEC filing. On top of that, instruments and accessories have to be replaced regularly.

It’s possible a different business model “more suitable for a low resource or under-resourced hospital” could emerge to replace the current one, Unberath theorized.

But another issue remains. Surgeons are already struggling with shortages and burnout, so it might be difficult to find some who are able and willing to perform these procedures, he said.

“We cannot talk about provider and surgeon burnout while also saying that, by the way, you should be operating not just where you’re currently operating but you should be fielding another hospital’s volume also,” he said.