Ireland Degges
Verizon Business has launched a full-spectrum private 5G network for the VA Palo Alto Health Care System under a partnership with the Department of Veterans Affairs aimed at boosting veteran care with 5G technologies.
This milestone is a step forward for the alliance between Verizon and VA, which previously resulted in the establishment of commercial in-building 5G systems, the Ashburn, Virginia-based enterprise announced on Monday.
“The work VA Palo Alto Health Care System is doing is a shining example of what the partnership between the VA and Verizon makes possible,” said Verizon Business CEO Kyle Malady.
“Data is always important, but it’s critical in healthcare settings. The speed and low latency of Verizon’s 5G technology releases data, which in turn delivers unprecedented capabilities, reduces costs and improves efficiencies so that the medical center can focus on clinical care and healthcare outcomes,” he elaborated.
The combination of the newly deployed Verizon private 5G and 5G MEC infrastructure and its integration with in-building systems and 5G rooftop macro sites provides a campus-wide, full-spectrum, hybrid commercial and private 5G ecosystem designed to broaden VA Palo Alto Health Care System’s range of 5G capabilities in support of modern clinical practices. The increased bandwidth and cloud-based servers at the edge provided by the network along with AI-powered technologies will help physicians make real-time, data-informed decisions related to patient care.
Expected areas of advancement include AR-assisted presurgical guidance with virtual 3D X-ray vision with the incorporation of CT and MRI scans, VR-assisted medical learning with interactive 3D models of human organs, holographic teleportation-enhancing clinical interactions at a distance and digital twin for safety and security.
“The capabilities and solutions we are deploying are designed to dramatically improve patient outcomes, and in doing so, will revolutionize care for our Veterans and around the world,” said Thomas Osborne, director of the Veterans Health Administration’s National Center for Collaborative Health Care Innovation – which leads the partnership with Verizon – and executive director for the VA Convergence Center at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System.
He emphasized that the organization’s goal is to bring the “best and most advanced healthcare” to veterans and said that 5G technologies upgrade VA’s current capabilities and offer opportunities for future technology developments.
“There is a lot of unrealized potential in healthcare data,” Osborne added.
This partnership between Verizon Business and VA began in 2020, when VA Palo Alto Healthcare System was announced as the department’s first 5G-enabled healthcare institution. Recently, Verizon’s public sector arm expanded its established relationship with VA through a nine-year, $448.3 million deal for mobile devices and mission-critical communications technologies.
