Authentidate wins VA telehealth contract

Authentidate Holding Corp., Berkeley Heights, N.J., has been named as a contractor by the U.S. Veterans Affairs Department for its telehealth program. Under the five-year deal, Authentidate will provide the VA with its electronic house-call and its interactive voice-response software, the company announced.

The VA provides home care via electronic monitoring to 49,000 veterans who have chronic diseases. The move to voice-activated systems is seen as an interim step toward moving to a mobile-device environment for the program, according to Adam Darkins, chief consultant for telehealth services at the VA. Other companies winning contract awards for the telehealth program were American Telecare, Cardiocom, HealthHero Network and Visual Telecommunication Network/ViTelCare, both units of the Bosch Group, and Viterion TeleHealthcare, according to the VA.

Terms of Authentidate's contract were not disclosed. Officials at Authentidate were unavailable for comment at deadline.