Emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence have come to play a key role in how the Veterans Affairs Department is delivering services to veterans, according to one program executive.
"All of these new technologies, although they represent a challenge for us to keep up with and looking for new applications for them, we envision they will, or in fact already are, improving services to veterans," says Dr. Paul Tibbits, program executive officer of VA's Financial Management Business Transformation Special Program Office.
As AI evolves and gets better and more useful, improved diagnostic accuracy could be one positive outcome, he says.
"Improving therapeutic accuracy with . . . fewer mistakes, but also picking the right treatment at the right time for the right illness or infirmity — these new technologies would be very helpful in supplementing human judgment, not replacing it," Tibbits says.
With claims processing, AI could help bolster human decision-making in, for example, determining the percentage of a veteran's disability and what entitlement that veteran can have. Automating simpler cases could streamline the process and in turn, "shorten the time cycle on getting benefits to veterans," Tibbits says.
Watch the full interview above.
