Abridge has been selected to provide ambient artificial intelligence technology to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) through its distribution partner, expanding the company’s opportunity to support clinical documentation across the nation’s largest integrated healthcare system. The five-year, multiple-award enterprise contract has a total ceiling of $775.72 million across all eligible vendors, which will compete for individual task orders. The value of Abridge’s potential share was not disclosed.
The agreement allows VA medical centers and regional organizations nationwide to adopt Abridge’s clinician intelligence platform as the agency modernizes its clinical documentation systems and continues its transition to a new electronic health record infrastructure.
Abridge has already established a presence within the VA through a competitively awarded nationwide pilot. Its platform is operational on both of the agency’s electronic health record systems, VistA/CPRS and the Federal EHR, serving thousands of clinicians at more than 75 VA medical centers.
The existing deployment is particularly relevant as the VA undertakes one of the largest electronic health record transitions in healthcare. By supporting both systems, Abridge aims to provide clinicians with consistent documentation tools while helping preserve clinical context as patient information moves between providers, specialties, care settings and electronic health records.
The company’s technology uses AI to transform patient-clinician conversations into draft clinical documentation, helping physicians and other healthcare professionals reduce the time spent on administrative tasks. Its platform also provides context-aware clinical insights intended to support care before, during and after patient encounters.
Within the VA, Abridge is already being used in primary care, approximately a dozen specialties and Clinical Resource Hubs, the agency’s virtual care network. Its technology has been validated to support clinical encounters in more than 28 languages, enabling its use across different specialties and care settings.
The platform is designed to help clinicians maintain continuity of care for Veterans receiving treatment through multiple providers. Because Veteran healthcare frequently involves VA medical centers, community healthcare organizations and virtual appointments, consistent clinical documentation can help providers access relevant patient information without requiring patients to repeatedly explain their medical histories.
During the pilot, Abridge operated under VA security authorization, with Veteran information handled according to the agency’s security controls.
Abridge’s technology also extends beyond clinical documentation. Its clinical decision support capabilities can generate context-aware responses using information from a patient’s medical record, the ongoing clinical conversation and widely cited peer-reviewed medical literature.
The company has also developed Linked Evidence, a feature that connects AI-generated clinical documentation to its underlying source information. This allows clinicians to review and verify the information generated by the platform.
Founded in 2018, Abridge has expanded its presence across major U.S. healthcare organizations. The company expects its technology to support more than 100 million patient-clinician conversations in 2026 across more than 300 major U.S. health systems.
Abridge was named Best in KLAS for Ambient AI in both 2025 and 2026. Its selection under the VA enterprise contract provides an opportunity to expand its government healthcare presence, building on its existing pilot deployment and the platform’s integration with the VA’s two electronic health record environments.
KEY QUOTES:
“It is an honor to support the clinicians who care for our nation’s Veterans. We’ve worked to earn trust by meeting them where they are and preserving clinical context across providers, specialties, care settings, and the EHR migration. As a cardiologist, I’ve had the privilege of treating Veterans at VA medical centers in Ann Arbor and Pittsburgh. We’ve built Abridge to meet the scale and complexity that an enterprise-wide deployment requires.”
Dr. Shiv Rao, CEO and Co-Founder of Abridge
“What matters most during a transition of this scale is that care stays connected for every Veteran. Abridge has proven its platform can support an integrated, consistent experience for VA clinicians and the Veterans they serve.”
Dr. David Shulkin, Former U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs and Consultant to Abridge
“VA has demonstrated its focus on bringing commercial technology into the nation’s largest integrated health system. Seeing that work carry forward into an enterprise contract shows VA’s investment in digital health is paying off for the clinicians and Veterans it was built to serve.”
Nadia Smith, Former Acting Chief Digital Health Officer at the Veterans Health Administration and Consultant to Abridge
