The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced Feb. 12 its new partnerships with Verizon, Microsoft and Medvis to support the agency's efforts to deploy its first 5G-enabled clinical care system at the VA Palo Alto (Calif.) Health Care System.
Dubbed Project Convergence, the public-private partnership will be led by VA's National Center for Collaborative Health Care Innovation. VA, Verizon, Microsoft and Medvis, a medical and IT evaluation company, will work to identify potential clinical uses for technology that combine health innovations with 5G capabilities.
"Our hospital … is currently one of only a handful of 5G enabled health facilities in the world," VA Secretary Robert Wilkie said in a news release. "We're excited to use this hands-on opportunity to work with our partners to develop foundational practices and deploy advanced medical solutions to serve our nation's veterans."
Earlier this month, VA began rolling out 5G wireless technology at the Palo Alto-based health system. Mr. Wilkie said he expects the hospital's 5G technology to be fully operational this year, according to Military.com.