In collaboration with the VHA Innovation Ecosystem, Microsoft, and MIT Hacking Medicine, the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital (JAHVH) recently hosted a supercharged hackathon event called Veterans’ Health – MIT Hacking Medicine 2024 at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine.
Experts from diverse fields in the public and private sectors came together at the university to develop innovative solutions to address critical health issues facing veterans.
Dr. Indra Sandal, Chief Innovation Officer at JAHVH, founded Veterans’ Health – MIT Hacking Medicine 2024. The goal of the initiative is to foster collaborations between the public and private sectors to create an environment where people, technology, and community stakeholders can collaborate to create innovative health solutions for veterans.
According to Dr. Sandal, “The main areas of focus are access to care, veteran suicide prevention and faster hiring. These areas are aimed at addressing these issues and providing effective solutions for our veterans.”
Innovation Specialist Stephanie Sinnett, MS, RDN, of Orlando VA Health System (OVAHCS) along with his other team members, received first place in the suicide prevention category with their innovative approach and solution to the lack of a dynamic, person-centered platform for veterans to interact with their safety plan.
Sinnett explains, “When a veteran comes into the emergency room and there is a risk or concern for suicide, the provider works with them to create a suicide prevention plan. It’s a great document that gives the veteran ideas, tools and resources on a piece of paper.”
While attending the event, Sinnett and his team proposed creating an interactive AI app called VITAE to help veterans develop their safety plans to prevent suicide while providing suggestions and support. The AI tool would offer techniques and reassurance to help veterans in crisis and remind them that they can reach out for help.
Jeremy Goldberg, LCSW, QS, OVAHCS mental health social worker, and his team received second place for their work on Guardian Assist.
Guardian Assist, a new program/app, would run in the background during telehealth consultations. The tool uses voice-to-text transcription, text analytics, and speech analytics to assess suicide risk during a patient’s episode of care.
Trained in motivational interviewing, clinical practice guidelines and clinical data, Guardian Assist prompts the clinician on next steps to maintain patient engagement.
The system can facilitate a warm handoff to a mental health professional, providing a patient in crisis with the care they need and giving the clinician an additional resource by having a suicide prevention specialist on hand.
Third place went to Vanessa Persaud, BSN, RN, OVAHCS Performance Metrics Manager, and her team for their AI-generated application called VocVital.
Their AI-powered app, VocVital, provides a solution for wearable devices similar to a blood pressure monitor to capture vital signs and voice biomarkers. It also transmits data to the app for recording and history purposes.
According to Persaud, “the device is non-invasive, holistic and offers veterans a way to reduce stigma by allowing them to manage their mental health.”
Capturing real-time analysis of active and passive monitoring of voice biomarkers as a 7th vital sign enables early detection of potential mental health issues.
“Voice biomarkers use acoustic and linguistic features that can go unnoticed by the human ear and can identify trends and progressions with minimal voice data to identify suicide risk,” Persaud said. “Integrating voice biomarkers with established vital signs allows for instantaneous data analysis, which allows for faster treatment adjustments and improved clinical decision-making.”
This is just the beginning according to Dr Sandal.
“The goal of this event was not just to have a one-time fun, but to ensure sustainability and real-world impact,” Sandal said. “We plan follow-up events like MAKETHON to transform concepts into prototypes and eventually full products, ensuring continued innovation and improvement in veteran care.”
OVAHCS Director/CEO Timothy J Cooke shared his thoughts on the collaborative event.
“The benefits of public-private partnerships for AV are significant. They give us access to subject matter experts and allow us to lead projects we wouldn’t have been able to do traditionally,” Cooke said. “These partnerships are invaluable because they expose our challenges to thought leaders and industry experts who can help us improve and become more efficient.”
