VA’s AI ‘To-Go’ Delivery Model Develops Into Platform

Dr. Gil Alterovitz, director for artificial intelligence at the Department of Veteran Affairs, said the agency’s AI ‘to-go’ delivery model to help medical centers during the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to be used in other VA sites as pilot modules.

He said the organization plans to test the initial module at its hundreds of centers and thousand of facilities, Fedscoop reported Friday.

During the recent FedTalks event presented by FedScoop, Alterovitz said that while the additional use cases have not been selected yet, the AI models will be packaged as embeddable software add-ons for rapid deployment based on the original.

“We’re now using that to generalize and essentially created a new platform so that artificial intelligence research and development can be added as modules in the future,” he said.

When the AI system and health application are reviewed, medical sites will be able to access a module, which will show within the report network dashboard when VA shares a secure, internal weblink.

The original module was designed with available medical records and to assist in deciding if veterans found positive for the coronavirus should be admitted to a medical center or intensive care.

In July, the VA announced that it was testing the "to-go" delivery model and the agency worked with the academia and industry to make AI modules that can be integrated across various systems, according to Alterovitz.

He added that the modules serve as plugins to current software and help VA’s health facilities predict a person’s risk for the new COVID-19.