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The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has added 14 medical centers and a national cemetery to its “Innovator’s Network” of IT support sites to speed delivery of services. According to the VA’s Nov. 8 press release:
- The Network began as a pilot in early 2015 and seeks to build and empower a community of VA employees who are actively engaged in innovation. The Network has been a tremendous success in developing VA’s culture of innovation, empowering employees to improve the experience and care of our Veterans, and successfully funding transformational innovations that significantly reduce costs and improve the care and services available to Veterans. The Network program and Innovation Specialists — dedicated staff at each innovation site — have trained more 1,300 VA employees on innovation-related competencies to help them first recognize, and then solve problems that are negatively impacting or preventing Veterans from receiving the care and services.
BGOV Analyst Take
A trained, technologically savvy, nationwide support network will be essential as the VA begins to harness the power of the Internet of Things (IoT). The expansion of the Innovator’s Network will help support the VA’s Million Veterans Program (MVP), which is transforming the delivery of health-care services to veterans using big data, research and technology.
At MeriTalk’s Nov. 16 event, 2016 Big Data Brainstorm — Internet of Things, VA Deputy Chief Health Technology Officer Joseph Ronzio said his agency is committed to leveraging the power of IoT to deliver an improved, personalized health-care experience. Initial genetic sampling and monitoring veterans’ health through the use of electronic devices such as FitBit Inc.’s wearables hold the promise of anticipating and responding to changing health conditions with real-time diagnoses and rapid treatments.
In April, Seven Bridges Genomics Inc., a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biomedical data analysis company, announced the signing of a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the VA to build a hybrid cloud data distribution system and an analysis engine to interpret and share the massive amount of veterans’ genomic and health data. Lockheed Martin Corp. is building out the MVP’s data security component.
The VA announced in August that the 500,000th veteran had signed on to participate in MVP, making it the largest genomic database in the world. The goal is to sign up one million veterans in the next four to five years.
