Stryker to Buy care.ai to Boost Virtual Care Offerings

Medical technology company Stryker (NYSE: SYK) has agreed to acquire care.ai, a privately held company specializing in delivering AI-assisted virtual care workflows, smart room technology and ambient intelligence solutions. 

Stryker, which offers products and services in Orthopaedics, Medical and Surgical, and Neurotechnology and Spine, said the acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, would strengthen its growing healthcare IT offerings and wirelessly connected medical device portfolio.

The company said its customers continue to face nursing shortages, employee retention challenges, overworked and cognitively burdened staff, and a rise in workplace safety concerns. 

The goal is for care.ai to offer complementary technology that will integrate with the Vocera platform and Stryker’s devices, providing customers with an enterprise-wide ecosystem that can deliver dynamic clinical workflows and further the development of smart care facilities. 

In 2022, Kalamazoo, Mich.-based Stryker paid close to $3 billion for Vocera, which offers a suite of solutions for hospitals to connect caregivers and disparate data-generating medical devices. The hands-free Vocera Smartbadge was named to TIME’s list of the 100 Best Inventions of 2020. Vocera solutions can integrate with more than 150 clinical and operational systems, including electronic health records, nurse call systems, ventilators, physiological monitors

Orlando, Fla.-based care.ai’s platform and sensors enable a variety of AI-assisted workflows that can help deliver a responsive and personalized healthcare environment, allowing caregivers to spend more time with patients, Stryker said. 

“This acquisition underscores our commitment and focus on our customers," stated Andy Pierce, Group President, MedSurg and Neurotechnology, at Stryker, in a statement. “Care.ai will help Stryker significantly accelerate our healthcare IT and digital vision to provide customers with real-time, smart and connected decision-making tools that enhance the lives of caregivers and their patients.”

An example of a care.ai virtual care customer is New Jersey-based Virtua Health. In December 2023, the hospital launched a pilot Virtual Nurse initiative in a medical-surgical unit that empowers bedside and remote nurses to work in tandem to provide patient care. The Virtual Nurse communicates with patients through a secure, two-way optical camera; patients’ family members can also participate in video calls from offsite.

In February 2024, care.ai announced a collaboration with the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) to craft the “Smart Hospital Maturity Model” to address the need for a comprehensive framework to assess and guide hospital progress in understanding, adopting, and optimizing enabling technologies. By defining what constitutes a “Smart Hospital,” this model empowers healthcare facilities to optimize and accelerate digital transformation with clarity and confidence. 

In its second quarter, Stryker reported sales of $5.4 billion and net earnings of $825 million.