U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs awards $776M ambient AI contract

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has awarded a massive enterprise contract for ambient AI scribe technology, with a shared maximum ceiling of approximately $776 million over five years. The contract aims to provide clinicians with AI-driven tools to capture clinical encounters and generate draft notes, reducing the administrative burden on healthcare providers.

Knowtex has been named as one of two prime awardees on the Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract. The company’s solutions are already active at 79 VA medical centers and over 310 facilities, serving more than 7,000 clinicians. Knowtex provides cloud-based tools integrated with VA electronic health record systems to assist with coding, order entry, and clinical intelligence.

Abridge has also been selected to provide ambient AI under the enterprise contract through a distribution partner. Abridge’s platform is currently operational across both the legacy VistA/CPRS electronic health records and the new Federal EHR being deployed with Oracle. The technology supports encounters in more than 28 languages and is utilized in primary care, various specialties, and the VA’s virtual care network.