VA to Pursue Advanced Tech in ‘Healthcare 4.0’ Era

The Department of Veterans Affairs will focus on the development and use of advanced technologies over the next two decades in what is called the "Healthcare 4.0" era.

With the increasing connectivity among medical devices, VA said it will engage global network electronic health record systems, artificial intelligence, real-time data collection and analysis and user interfaces, MeriTalk reported Tuesday.

Marc Wine, a senior adviser for the VA office, said the future of medical technologies depends on their cybersecurity. He warned about the risks of plugging medical devices into a connectable network.

“The technologies, as we say, are tools that ought to enhance and show returns on investment of tangible and non-tangible qualities – patient outcomes, patient wellness, patient access, patient costs, and patient quality,” he said.

Wine stressed that health organizations should all be using empirical standards in patching cyber vulnerabilities across the life cycle of medical devices.