The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is honored to announce it has aligned its AI efforts for health care with over 28 private health care providers and payers to adhere to voluntary commitments to ensure the delivery of only the most trustworthy use of AI. VA is the largest integrated health care provider in the country, a leader in AI, and the first government health care provider to align with these new principles.
In December 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration announced the latest part of this overarching commitment to ensure the deployment of safe and responsible AI in health care. The Administration remains committed to maximizing the enormous potential benefits of AI while minimizing the risks posed. The Administration recently bolstered its proactive approach to AI with Executive Order (EO) 14110, Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence, which outlines specific actions required by federal agencies, including the VA, to ensure the use of trustworthy AI government-wide.
AI Efforts in Health Care at VA
Executive Order 14110 contains many elements that specifically apply to health and patient safety in the federal government. VHA has already taken several proactive steps to facilitate the use of trustworthy AI across medical centers and facilities, including the following actions and initiatives:
- VA established its first Trustworthy AI Framework in summer of 2023. The VA Trustworthy AI Framework is the first federal agency framework of its kind to integrate all AI guidance from the Biden-Harris Administration, up to that point, and provide guidance tailored to VA’s mission.
- VA launched a new iteration of the AI Tech Sprint to counter health care worker burnout in response to the new EO 14110: Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence. AI Tech Sprints are iterative competitions to create AI solutions for narrowly scoped challenges, with trustworthy AI integrated from inception through implementation. The AI Tech Sprints address two focus areas: speech-to-text solutions for use in medical appointments, and document processing to reduce the time needed to integrate non-VA medical records into VHA’s electronic health record.
- VA is committed to using FDA-approved health care AI technology. Approved technology, such as AI-assisted colorectal cancer screening products have offered a transformative solution to addressing the challenges of preventing colorectal cancer among Veterans. Future efforts to utilize FDA-approved health care AI technology to support Veteran health care needs are under consideration.
- The AI Oversight Committee (AIOC) Workflow Pilot empowers medical center directors to establish processes and systems of governance that support compliance with this Medical Center Policy and ensures that the enforceable requirements for trustworthy AI are met. The AIOC was first piloted at the National Artificial Intelligence Institute (NAII) Long Beach site and is now available at all NAII AI Network sites.
- The AI Institutional Review Board (IRB) Pilot, launched by the NAII in 2022, allows comprehensive vetting of AI use cases to determine if an AI model follows the principles of trustworthy AI per relevant executive orders and other federal regulations that protect human subjects. The AI IRB module went through its first pilot test at one of the VA NAII’s AI Network sites in Long Beach, California. The AI IRB module resulted in the rejection of a proposed industry-sponsored AI study that lacked transparency in how the model worked and put Veterans’ privacy at risk. The AI IRB module has also been piloted at all four NAII sites nationwide.
In December 2023, the White House and US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) received commitments from 28 health care provider and payer organizations regarding the safe, secure, and trustworthy use and purchase of AI in healthcare. The commitments help ensure that even if Veterans go outside the Veterans Health Administration for care, they can still expect the trustworthy use of AI in health care.
The committed companies are committing to:
- Vigorously developing AI solutions to optimize health care delivery and payment by advancing health equity, expanding access, making health care more affordable, improving outcomes through more coordinated care, improving patient experience, and reducing clinician burnout.
- Working with their peers and partners to ensure outcomes are aligned with fair, appropriate, valid, effective, and safe (FAVES) AI principles.
- Deploying trust mechanisms that inform users if content is largely AI-generated and not reviewed or edited by a human.
- Adhering to a risk management framework that includes comprehensive tracking of applications powered by frontier models and an accounting for potential harms and steps to mitigate them.
- Researching, investigating, and developing AI swiftly, but responsibly.
Prior to this pledge, President Biden received commitments from 15 leading AI companies to move toward safe, secure, and transparent development of AI technology.
About VHA
Serving more than 9 million Veterans each year with over 1,300 total VA care sites available nationwide, VA has delivered over 116 million health care appointments to Veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors in fiscal year 2023. VA remains dedicated to developing trustworthy AI capabilities to improve the outcomes and experiences for Veterans and support the delivery of world-class health care and benefits.
VA looks forward to continuing to fulfil its commitment to safe, secure, and responsible AI for Veterans and collaborating with other health care providers and payers that are dedicated to doing the same.
