The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is contracting JumpStart, an app developer, to build a platform using AI and a user’s own body to improve the physical therapy process – unless other off-the-shelf apps are identified with equal or greater capabilities.
According to a request for information (RFI), the VA has a requirement for an agnostic explainable AI solution – the AI Based Physical Therapy App (AIPTA) – that would predict and mitigate repetitive stress and over-exertion injuries by using an adaptive interface that can receive input from different wearable technologies.
“The AIPTA shall complement existing VA physical therapy (PT) processes in preventing and treating chronic ankle/foot musculoskeletal injuries, identifying FboNotice causes, and shall provide users, recommendations, biofeedback, notifications, adaptive training plans, reports, and rationale,” the RFI says.
From Dec. 2020 to June 2021, VA’s National AI Institute hosted a Tech Sprint with JumpStart having the “highest AI-based physical therapy biofeedback and analytical capabilities as related to physical therapy and musculoskeletal rehabilitation.”
VA states that it has already vetted several other AI health applications but haven’t found any vendors with similar capabilities to JumpStart.
“VA is considering issuing a sole-source award to JumpStart CSR, unless other off-the-shelf applications are identified with equal or greater capabilities,” VA wrote.
Other interested parties are encouraged to respond to the RFI through Dec. 8.
