VA exploring emerging health care tech
Connecting state and local government leaders
The Department of Veterans Affairs is conducting market research on innovative health care solutions, from advanced manufacturing and digital twins to artificial intelligence, immersive-reality simulations and blockchain solutions.
To gather information on emerging health care technologies, the Department of Veterans Affairs is looking for capability, delivery and market information on wide spectrum of clinical and administrative areas. The Accelerating VA Innovation and Learning program aims to gather enough information to inform possible procurements and identify interested parties for technologies ranging from advanced manufacturing and digital twins to artificial intelligence, immersive-reality simulations and blockchain solutions.
According to the recent request for information, VA wants insights into the design, development, manufacturing and testing of customized medical devices, such as anatomical models for pre-surgical planning, personalized prosthetics, surgical instruments, personalized dental equipment, assistive technologies and bio-fabrication.
When it comes to data transformation, VA is looking at decision-support and artificial intelligence tools for chronic disease management in high-risk patient populations, vulnerable or underserved patient populations and those with acute conditions like sepsis. Application programming interfaces will be considered for data-driven care and administrative tasks. Synthetic data solutions are also of interest. The VA expects these data solutions to integrate with the existing VA workflows, clinical information systems and product lines.
With regard to digital twins, VA wants contractors to evaluate the feasibility of virtual models as architectural blueprints for planned or future clinical spaces and facilities like exam or operating rooms and also to speed adoption of emerging technologies, like 3D printing, into clinical care.
Digital twin solutions should consider virtual and augmented reality and be able to model future clinician and operational workflows for resource forecasting, the RFI said.
Additionally, VA requests contractor insights into 5G-enabled or augmented technology solutions that could improve real-time remote and virtual care delivery and bring greater connectivity with edge devices. Examples include AR-guided surgical navigation and patient wearables.
Blockchain solutions are also of interest, specifically those that secure data sharing across institutions, track products and service levels and optimize supply chains and administrative tasks such provider credentialling and privileging.
For patients, VA is interested in immersive and simulation technologies that it can use for alternative therapies for mental health disorders, clinical training, virtual individual and/or group clinical visits and virtual rehabilitation. For clinical use, it wants to hear about simulation solutions that would help it integrate emerging technology and workflow optimization tools.
On the business side, the VA is looking for information on innovative clinical and business models that would enhance or streamline existing VHA processes, improve veteran health outcomes and save money. Strategic planning, program and project scheduling support services are also of interest.
Contractors are expected to provide programmatic and implementation support for solutions as well as assistance with replication and scaling, measurement and analytic support. All deliverables are expected to take the form of monthly progress reports, which will serve as a barometer for both progress in implementation and for insights gained during the process.
VA will host a reverse industry day on Tuesday, Dec.14 to provide an opportunity for vendors to ask questions regarding the above work.
Read the full RFI here.