Ready Computing Participates in VA Tech Sprint Challenge Alongside Partners Clinical Architecture and SOAP Health

Ready Computing and Partners, Clinical Architecture and SOAP Health, Develop AI-Powered Tools to Relieve VA Provider Burnout for the VA AI Tech Sprint Challenge

Ready Computing has teamed with subcontractors and long-time partners Clinical Architecture and SOAP Health to compete in the current AI Tech Sprint Challenge in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The current Tech Sprint Challenge focuses on reducing healthcare provider burnout through innovative solutions driven and aided by artificial intelligence (AI). 

Provider burnout is a widespread issue in healthcare, but technology can help mitigate the effects when used properly. Medical provider burnout is typically characterized by emotional exhaustion and a feeling of low personal accomplishment. The negative consequences of burnout include decreased work productivity, poor quality of patient care, and even medical errors. 

This 120-day Tech Sprint Challenge, led by the National Artificial Intelligence Institute (NAII) and coordinated through the Government Innovation Framework, provides an opportunity for Tech Sprint Teams to create solutions that improve healthcare data management and clinical practice for the VA. Team Ready will develop an innovative AI solution for Track 2, Community Care Document Processing. The goal for Track 2 is to "get AI-powered systems to ingest a diverse range of Community records from providers to share key points with VA providers and increase continuity of care for Veterans." 

Team Ready's proposed solution is a data platform that streamlines data and normalizations with powerful AI components that efficiently infer diagnoses, automate assessments, and optimize data for clinical interpretation, providing medical professionals with precise and reliable information. Content is standardized, organized, and inspected using cutting-edge AI techniques to derive possible diagnoses, provide recommendations, and more. AI-driven questionnaires provide additional insights into the patient's physical and mental health status and automatically update their record based on feedback, including new developments in the patient's behavior that may impact health, such as smoking or lack of sleep. Finally, the data is optimized so that the provider only sees the most critical and relevant information at the time of care. 

Team Ready's solution will not only reduce provider burnout by highlighting significant events from episodes of care, but it will also enable researchers and analysts to develop streamlined and repeatable protocols that optimize the way core teams operate. "We see this Sprint as a major part of our overarching commitment to improving Veteran health and understanding the importance of caring for our VA providers," says Michael LaRocca, Founder and CEO of Ready Computing. "When providers are inundated with data, they can become overwhelmed and less effective, and our job as technologists is to help those providers with new innovations to ensure their patients receive the best care possible."

To carry out the Tech Sprint, teams will receive access to data from clinical trials, patents, experimental therapeutics, and other unique federal data sources. They'll also receive insights from VA healthcare providers and subject matter experts in VA systems, Trustworthy AI, Accessibility, and other pertinent areas to the Tech Sprint Challenge.

One of Ready Computing's main advantages is its extensive experience working with the VA, which provides an in-depth understanding of the VA's system architecture. Ready Computing has proven expertise in several VA programs, such as the Veterans Data Integration and Federation Enterprise Platform (VDIF-EP). Sprint partners Clinical Architecture and SOAP Health also have the advantage of bringing tried and tested AI modules to the challenge.

VA Tech Sprints provide key benefits to competing organizations and the Department of Veterans Affairs. The process of becoming a government contractor can be time-consuming and requires resources that many companies simply do not have. Tech sprints provide companies the opportunity to work with the VA in a challenge setting, bringing innovation to the VA and keeping the VA at the forefront of AI developments. Other benefits for Tech Sprint participants include possibilities for longer-term partnerships with the VA and potential funding opportunities.

The competition implements provisions of the AI Executive Order released on October 30, 2023, and aligns with Trustworthy AI Principles according to challenge requirements and as promoted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). 

Ready Computing's leadership is scheduled to speak about the project at this year's HIMSS conference in Orlando, Florida, in Booth #2281 at 4:00 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, March 12. Visit readycomputing.com to learn about their healthcare IT services, and visit challenge.gov to learn more about the VA AI Tech Sprint Challenge. 

Source: Ready Computing