New Platform, Valume Delivers Smarter Workflows for Surgeries
Pluto Health and Help.AI have entered into a strategic partnership aimed at transforming surgical care and modernizing one of the most complex and fragmented segments of the U.S. healthcare system. Together, the companies will introduce Valume, an advanced preoperative readiness platform designed to improve clinical efficiency, reduce delays, and lower the overall cost of care for patients, hospital systems, and payers.
The joint initiative leverages Pluto Health’s AI-enabled care coordination service alongside Help AI’s Surgical Population Management SPM platform to create a comprehensive solution that aligns clinical quality with operational performance. By synchronizing patient information, risk assessments, laboratory results, and care pathways into a unified workflow, the collaboration aims to establish a new standard for how health systems prepare patients for surgery.
A Fragmented, High-Cost Segment of Healthcare
Surgical care represents nearly 30% of all U.S. healthcare expenditures, amounting to more than $900 billion annually. Despite its vast scope and impact, preoperative care remains one of the most inconsistent and least standardized aspects of the healthcare system. While hospital systems have made significant investments in operating room efficiency and postoperative recovery strategies, the pre-op phase—which often determines the success or failure of a surgical episode—continues to suffer from fragmentation, uneven processes, and limited visibility across care teams.
Patients frequently encounter disjointed pre-op workflows in which medical histories, existing labs, diagnostics, and risk factors are scattered across multiple systems and providers. As a result, clinicians may lack key information needed to determine surgical readiness. Many patients are shuttled between specialists without a clear understanding of which tests are required, which care gaps remain, or what steps are necessary to safely proceed to surgery. These gaps can lead to last-minute cancellations, delayed procedures, extended hospital stays, and increased postoperative complications—outcomes that are both costly and preventable.
Pluto Health and Help.AI aim to address these systemic challenges by creating a more predictable, automated, and data-driven approach to surgical readiness. Their new offering, Valume™, centralizes critical information for clinicians and patients, supports risk reduction strategies, and enhances coordination across the perioperative continuum.
An Integrated Platform Designed for Real-Time Surgical Readiness
At the foundation of the partnership is the integration of Pluto Health’s AI-enabled care coordination engine with Help.AI’s SPM platform. This allows care teams to surface essential patient insights in real time, identify modifiable risks earlier, and avoid the delays that commonly arise from missing or outdated data. Valume™ serves as a next-generation preoperative readiness solution that reduces manual burdens and ensures that both clinicians and patients are aligned on the steps required to safely move toward surgery.
The joint platform is built to support seamless, clinically informed decision-making. Through the combination of automated screening tools, intelligent workflow prompts, virtual agent–powered intake, and continuous patient engagement, the system delivers the operational visibility and clinical rigor needed to reduce inefficiencies. Early analyses indicate that the integrated offering can save at least $5,000 per case, largely by preventing unnecessary testing, reducing downstream complications, and minimizing cancellations that are both disruptive and expensive.
Addressing the Root Causes of Delayed and Cancelled Surgeries
One of the most pressing issues in surgical care today is the frequency of delays caused by incomplete pre-op evaluations. Missing labs, unaddressed comorbidities, last-minute discoveries of unmanaged conditions, and poor visibility into patients’ care histories all contribute to avoidable disruption. These inefficiencies affect patient outcomes, financial performance, and overall satisfaction.
Surgeries are delayed and cancelled at the last minute due to lack of access to timeline information, completed procedures, and inefficient assessments that could have been managed weeks earlier or even in real-time,” said Dr. Joy Bhosai, CEO of Pluto Health and former Assistant Professor of Hospital Medicine at Duke. “Inefficiencies in timely pre-op preparation can lead to delays and worse outcomes for patients. By integrating with Help.AI’s SPM™, we are enabling smarter, faster, and more connected care.”
Valume directly targets these pain points by enabling automated retrieval and analysis of existing diagnostic information, surfacing modifiable risk factors, and identifying which tests or assessments are outstanding—all before the patient reaches the operating room. Clinicians can easily determine whether a patient is prepared for surgery, what steps remain, and how to reduce avoidable delays.
AI-Driven Tools to Support Clinicians and Reduce Administrative Burden
Beyond risk identification, the Pluto–Help.AI integration equips clinicians with an array of digital tools that streamline workflows and minimize time spent navigating complex patient histories. These capabilities include:
- AI-enabled early identification of high-risk patients, enabling earlier intervention
- Automated surfacing of modifiable risks, ensuring risks are addressed proactively
- Consolidation of reusable diagnostics and laboratory results, reducing unnecessary retesting
- Virtual agent–powered intake and navigation tools, which lighten manual administrative burdens
- Patient engagement support across the perioperative and preventive care continuum, ensuring patients stay informed and prepared
These features collectively support more efficient and consistent clinical decision-making, allowing providers to focus their time and expertise where it matters most—on patient care.
Advancing Value-Based Care Across Surgical Populations
The partnership also aligns with broader healthcare trends emphasizing value-based, patient-centered care. By improving the predictability and safety of preoperative workflows, the platform helps health systems meet quality metrics, reduce avoidable costs, and strengthen their population health strategies.
At Help.AI, we are focused on delivering Valume™—the fusion of volume and value—across surgical populations,” said Dr. Perrin Jones, founder of Help.AI. “Our SPM™ platform, now integrated with Pluto’s AI-powered infrastructure, represents a turning point in how health systems can proactively manage risk, reduce cost, and drive better outcomes at scale.”
Help.AI’s SPM™ platform is built to support large-scale population health efforts, offering actionable analytics and intelligent risk stratification tools that help organizations manage surgical pipelines more effectively. Pluto Health’s deep expertise in care coordination complements this capability by ensuring that patients receive timely outreach, guidance, and support throughout the perioperative journey.
Supporting the Full Patient Journey—Not Just the Surgery
A core philosophy underlying the partnership is the belief that surgical success is not defined solely by what happens in the operating room. Instead, outcomes are shaped by a continuum of care that includes preoperative preparation, operative efficiency, and postoperative recovery. Many postoperative complications are preventable when the preoperative phase is managed effectively and consistently.
By implementing Valume health systems can create a more unified patient experience, supporting individuals from early evaluation through recovery. The platform enhances communication, reduces uncertainty, and ensures that patients have access to the information they need to feel confident and prepared. This, in turn, supports better adherence to preoperative instructions, reduces anxiety, and helps deliver a more patient-centered surgical episode.
A Blueprint for Scalable, AI-Supported Surgical Care
As health systems nationwide seek ways to reduce waste, increase efficiency, and deliver consistent high-quality outcomes, Pluto Health and Help.AI’s integrated approach provides a scalable blueprint for the future of surgical care. By uniting intelligent automation with clinical insight and patient engagement, the partnership sets the stage for a more predictable, value-driven model that benefits providers, organizations, and patients alike.
The launch of Valume™ marks a significant milestone in the evolution of surgical readiness solutions. By bridging longstanding gaps across clinical, operational, and administrative domains, the platform offers a pathway toward safer, faster, and more efficient surgical experiences—ultimately contributing to better population health and stronger health system performance.
About Help.AI
Help.AI is redefining perioperative care through its Surgical Population Management (SPM™) platform, which uses AI to integrate clinical records, automate evaluations, and guide decision-making for surgical teams. By aligning clinical, operational, and financial incentives, Help.AI reduces delays and complications while delivering measurable ROI. The company’s virtual agents support patient intake, care coordination, and real-time intervention—enabling health systems to scale pre-op readiness, improve satisfaction, and optimize downstream outcomes.
About Pluto Health
Pluto Health, a Duke University spin-out, is on a mission to connect people with the care they need when they need it. Pluto bridges AI and health services, unifying health information from siloed sources and identifying the best next steps for patients in minutes. Our team creates personalized plans and collaborates to address health needs alongside our enterprise partners. Whether it involves preventive health care, at-home tests, or access to lifesaving clinical studies, we aim to provide the necessary care, options, and resources to patients through our trusted network of partners.
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