A peer-reviewed study found that 26.16% of observed surgical cases involved at least one instrument error. Failures involving visualization during inspection and assembly accounted for 88.6% of the sterile-processing errors recorded, and affected cases experienced delays averaging slightly more than 10 minutes. The researchers estimated that instrument-related operating-room delays cost between $6.75 million and $9.42 million annually in lost chargeable minutes across the two-hospital campus studied, according to the study published in BMC Surgery.
The study describes a problem that technology may be intended to address, but it did not evaluate Ascendco Health's software. Its findings therefore do not establish that Ascendco's platform reduces delays, improves outcomes, or enhances patient safety.
A River North demonstration facility
Ascendco has opened a Chicago headquarters and Experience Lab at 222 W. Hubbard St., Suite 4. The company describes the facility as a demonstration site where hospital staff can see how its software tracks surgical instruments before a health system signs a contract. The Chicago Business Journal reported that the lab contains instruments, trays, tracking systems, and simulated sterile-processing activities, allowing visitors to follow an instrument from receipt and decontamination through assembly, storage, and use in an operating room.
Ascendco held a ribbon-cutting for the headquarters and lab on September 2, inviting Chicago-area clinicians, health-system leaders, and medtech partners, the Chicago Business Journal reported. The supplied material does not show whether the demonstrations have led to contracts or produced measurable reductions in instrument errors or operating-room delays.
Broader patient-safety context
The broader record suggests that instrument-related risks are not solved by technology alone. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's Patient Safety Network, one study found that technology-based counting solutions alone did not improve retained-surgical-item rates when problematic practices and communication issues persisted. The Joint Commission's 2024 annual review listed 119 unintended retained items among the sentinel events reported that year, providing broader patient-safety context for problems involving surgical items.
The company’s claims and financing
Ascendco describes its product as a cloud-based platform for tracking and managing surgical instruments. The company says it supports more than 450 hospitals and has offices in Chicago and Kansas City, according to the Chicago Business Journal. Those figures, and the company's claims that the platform can improve efficiency, outcomes, and safety, are not findings from the cited study.
Ascendco also disclosed a $4.8 million equity raise in a Form D filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in July 2025, according to Global Deal Flow. The listing says the filing was automatically compiled from SEC records and that its investors and deal terms were not verified by the publisher.
