The Department of Veterans Affairs “Industry Innovation Competition” (VAi2) just awarded thirteen new awards. Several of the new projects will improve telehealth while others will improve dialysis, improve communications with healthcare professionals, detect adverse drug reactions, provide education, assist veterans in business, and provide permanent telehealth enabled housing for homeless veterans.
American Well Inc located in Boston Massachusetts one of the award winners, received recognition for their online care system that provides two-way video enabling patients to have secure chats with their providers and their multidisciplinary care teams.
Today, the company is using their telehealth solution to establish three “online practices”. One program at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System will establish an online behavioral health practice. Another program part of the Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System will establish an online oncology practice to bring healthcare providers from the Omaha VA Medical Center together with cancer patients across the state. A third program will establish an online practice to allow surgeons to deliver post operative care to patients via the internet.
The other VAi2 winners include:
• Pharmacy OneSource, Inc (Seattle, Washington) to improve the availability of online medication information and allow for on-demand notifications for potential adverse drug interactions
• Vigilanz Corp (Minneapolis, Minnesota) to provide tools to help clinicians actively develop and manage the rules that define potential drug issues and be able to apply those rules in real-time to the patient’s information
• AWAK Technologies, Inc. (Burbank, California) to develop a wearable dialysis device that substantially increases the patient’s freedom for normal activities
• Medical Education Institute, Inc. (Madison Wisconsin) to develop patient-navigated education in a video game-live format to guide patients through the complexities of managing chronic kidney disease
• Affinity Networks, Inc., (Arlington Virginia) to develop disease management content to deliver over mobile phones to veterans being treated for TBI
• Interactive Performance Technologies (Cambridge Massachusetts) to develop a system so patients can report hard-to-gather information on chronic conditions from their homes to healthcare professionals
• Kinetic Muscles, Inc. (Tempe Arizona) to develop new equipment to enable home-based physical therapy for stroke victims and to collect data from remote monitoring
• Service Wing Healthcare (San Diego, California) to provide a mobile platform for clinicians to do mental health assessments
• SweetSpot Diabetes Care, Inc. (Dayton, Ohio) to automatically collect and report in-home readings from blood glucose monitors and then transfer the information to patients and clinicians
• Ridgewood/5Stone Real Estate Partners (Ashburn, Virginia) working with LaCite Development from New York, NY to construct sustainable telehealth-enabled housing for homeless veterans
• Soldier On (Leeds, Massachusetts) to construct energy efficient housing for homeless veterans and offer supportive services
• Eadvantage (Potomac, Maryland) to develop a new e-learning platform and education content to help veterans become entrepreneurs by learning how to do an initial self assessment and how to prepare a business plan
For more information, go to www.va.gov/vai2.
