Veterans Health Administration Extends Contract with AppliedVR to Continue Use of Virtual Reality for Treating Chronic Low Back Pain

VA Immersive, part of Veterans Health Administration (VHA), aims to define a new reality in health care delivery through immersive technologies across the nation's largest integrated health system.

LOS ANGELES and WASHINGTON, Dec. 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- AppliedVR^®, an immersive therapeutics (ITx) pioneer advancing a novel, virtual reality-based approach to medicine, today announced an expanded contract with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The award expansion will support access to AppliedVR's FDA-authorized RelieVRx® program, a home-based ITx solution for treating chronic lower back pain (CLBP).

AppliedVR was awarded the contract through VA Immersive, a division of Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Office of Healthcare Innovation and Learning (OHIL) that is defining a new reality in health care through virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) solutions that shift the paradigm in care delivery and experience.

VHA provides care to more than 9 million Veterans nationwide. More than 50 percent of Veterans receiving care at VA facilities suffer from chronic pain, making it an important focus for VHA. AppliedVR and VA Immersive share a common vision to transform pain care for our Veterans by enabling greater access to non-pharmacological, noninvasive options like VR.

The RelieVRx program is the first and only FDA-authorized in-home immersive VR pain treatment indicated as an adjunctive treatment for CLBP. The eight-week program has been clinically demonstrated to decrease pain intensity and pain interference in the lives of people experiencing CLBP. In a recent clinical trial follow-up study, the RelieVRx program was shown to deliver durable effects up to 24 months after treatment completion.

Since its inception, VA Immersive has been testing and evaluating the implementation of immersive technology in clinical settings. VA Immersive sees ITx as critical to the future of health care and aims to scale exciting new immersive technologies across the nation's largest integrated health care system.

"VA Immersive has been a trailblazer that is consistently at the forefront of health care innovation, actively fostering exploration and integration of cutting-edge technologies to enhance health care delivery and services," said Matthew Stoudt, Co-founder and CEO of AppliedVR. "VA Immersive's mission to set national standards for leveraging VR will accelerate the adoption of immersive therapeutics across VA, enabling our wounded warriors to receive next-generation treatments like RelieVRx."

AppliedVR and VHA have a long history of collaboration. The two organizations previously collaborated to deliver VR-based solutions to comfort Veterans in hospice (palliative care), while also helping to improve the quality of life of Veterans experiencing stress, anxiety, and general chronic pain in a variety of health care settings.

About AppliedVR
AppliedVR is creating a new reality in health care. We are pioneering immersive therapeutics (ITx), a new category of medicine, to treat intractable health conditions that affect millions of people worldwide. Today, AppliedVR's treatments represent a robust approach to chronic lower back pain (CLBP) that empowers patients with an intuitive device they can self-manage at home. AppliedVR's RelieVRx® program is the first VR-based, prescription therapeutic to receive Breakthrough Device Designation and De Novo authorization by the FDA for CLBP. AppliedVR's wellness programs have been trusted by more than 200 leading health systems and thousands of health care professionals globally, used on more than 60,000 patients. For more information, visit www.appliedvr.io.

About VA Immersive
VA Immersive is defining a new reality in Veteran health care delivery and experience through immersive technologies like virtual and augmented reality, reinforcing why Veterans and staff choose VA. We're focused on getting heads in headsets—where experience brings understanding. VA has now deployed over 2,200 VR headsets across more than 165 VA medical centers and outpatient clinics in all 50 U.S. states, Guam, American Samoa, and Puerto Rico. Click here for more information.

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SOURCE AppliedVR