“Tim Strebel is a two-time winner of the Department of Veterans Affairs “Shark Tank” Award, which honors innovative practices, for developing two software packages to automate the jobs of those who work in prosthetics. Now, in what Strebel calls the “most significant” work in his seven-year VA career, he’s developed a tool that uses artificial intelligence to calculate the risk of a COVID-19 patient dying within 120 days of diagnosis.”
“The hope is that clinicians can use those predictions to improve the treatment of their patients. The tool is being piloted at 13 VA medical centers.”
“Strebel, a computer programmer focusing on health informatics at the Washington DC VA Medical Center, and his colleagues described the tool in a paper published June 9 in BMJ Health Care & Informatics.”
“Strebel created the tool in collaboration with VA’s National Artificial Intelligence Institute (NAII), which was launched in 2019 to develop AI research and development to support Veterans, their families, survivors, and caregivers. He worked with NAII Director Dr. Gil Alterovitz, a specialist in bioinformatics, and Dr. Christos Makridis, a senior researcher advisor at NAII. The institute is a joint initiative between the VA’s Office of Research and Development and the Secretary’s Center for Strategic Partnerships…”
A model for other AI initiatives
“The tool, Strebel says, will be used in its pilot form until its computing resources are needed to pilot other models, such as those that can identify and treat patients with long-term COVID symptoms, including organ failure and chronic lung conditions. The tool could also serve as a model for VA artificial intelligence initiatives that apply to conditions and viruses beyond COVID-19, such as suicide prevention.”
“AI has the potential to greatly improve clinical experiences and patient outcomes, Strebel notes, but the results must be accessible, interpretable, and actionable…” Read the full article here.
Source: New VA tool uses artificial intelligence to predict COVID-19 patient mortality – July 12, 2021. Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC).
