Ambulatory surgery centers are rapidly becoming the preferred setting for joint replacement procedures, and a new wave of portable surgical navigation technology is making advanced precision surgery accessible without the hefty price tag of robotic platforms. OrthAlign received FDA 510(k) clearance on June 3, 2026, for its Lantern ASC system, a handheld navigation solution designed specifically for independent surgical facilities seeking to compete with hospital-based orthopedic programs.

Why Are Ambulatory Surgery Centers Becoming the New Standard for Joint Replacements?

The shift toward ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) reflects a fundamental change in how healthcare is being delivered. These facilities offer patients and providers significant advantages over traditional hospital settings. The global ambulatory surgical centers market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 5.77% from 2024 to 2030, driven by multiple factors that make these centers increasingly attractive.

Cost remains the primary driver. Patients and insurers recognize that ASCs deliver the same quality outcomes at substantially lower prices than hospital operating rooms. Beyond economics, infection control has become a major selling point. The controlled environment of ambulatory centers minimizes exposure to hospital-acquired infections, a concern that resonates strongly with patients making surgical decisions. As these facilities expand into multispecialty services, they're capturing an ever-larger share of routine surgical procedures that were once exclusively performed in hospitals.

What Makes the Lantern ASC System Different From Robotic Surgery Platforms?

The Lantern ASC system addresses a critical pain point for ambulatory centers: the barriers to adopting advanced surgical technology. Traditional robotic-assisted surgery platforms require substantial capital investment, extensive operating room modifications, lengthy setup times, and specialized training protocols. These requirements have historically locked smaller surgical facilities out of the precision surgery market.

The Lantern ASC takes a different approach. The system combines a reusable handheld navigation device with procedure-specific Smart Pack Kits, enabling surgeons to access real-time guidance during total knee arthroplasty, partial knee replacement, and gap balancing procedures in both primary and revision cases. The technology is portable, scalable, and designed to integrate seamlessly with existing surgical instrumentation and a wide range of implant systems. This flexibility means ASCs don't need to overhaul their entire surgical ecosystem to adopt advanced navigation.

How to Evaluate Surgical Navigation Technology for Your Facility

• Clinical Track Record: The Lantern ASC platform is built on clinical experience from more than 450,000 procedures performed using OrthAlign's navigation technologies, providing substantial evidence of safety and efficacy in real-world surgical settings.
• Operational Efficiency: Unlike technologies that extend operating room times or require complex setup protocols, the Lantern ASC system maintains or beats manual procedure times while improving surgical throughput and center profitability.
• Financial Sustainability: The system is engineered to work within ASC economics, avoiding the high capital expenditures and ongoing maintenance costs associated with robotic platforms that can strain facility budgets.

Eric Timko, CEO of OrthAlign, emphasized the inclusive design philosophy behind the system. "As total joint arthroplasty shifts to the ASC and patients seek technology for their knee or hip replacements, surgeons and administrators need a smart solution, both clinically and economically," he stated. "We engineered Lantern ASC to be a technology that leaves no stakeholder behind. Surgeons get accuracy and reliability, patients get the outcomes they came for, and the business gets a leading technology that works for the bottom line".

Eric Timko, CEO of OrthAlign

"Unlike technologies that burden a center's finances and throttle OR efficiency, Lantern ASC improves throughput, maintains or beats manual procedure times, and makes advanced navigation something that meets the needs of the entire ASC ecosystem," said Eric Timko, CEO of OrthAlign.

Eric Timko, CEO of OrthAlign

The FDA clearance represents a significant milestone in democratizing surgical precision. For decades, advanced navigation technology was concentrated in large academic medical centers and hospital systems with substantial capital budgets. The Lantern ASC system changes that calculus by offering comparable accuracy and reliability at a fraction of the cost and operational complexity. This shift has profound implications for patient access and healthcare economics.

As the ambulatory surgical center market continues its robust expansion, driven by patient preference for lower-cost, lower-infection-risk settings, the availability of advanced navigation technology specifically designed for these facilities removes a major competitive disadvantage. Surgeons and administrators at ASCs can now offer their patients the same precision-guided procedures available at major medical centers, while maintaining the financial and operational advantages that make ambulatory surgery attractive in the first place.