Feds to award prizes for health IT solutions
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) have unveiled the Investing in Innovations (i2) Initiative, which intends to spur innovation in health IT through prizes and competitions to accelerate the development of solutions and communities to combat challenges in health IT.
This landmark initiative is made possible by the America Competes Reauthorization Act of 2010, signed by President Barack Obama on Jan. 4. The Act invests in innovation through research and development.
As part of the rollout, ONC has awarded nearly $5 million to Capital Consulting Corporation (CCC) and Health 2.0 to fund projects supporting innovations in research and encouraging health IT development through open-innovation mechanisms like prizes and challenges, the agencies stated.
The i2 Initiative will consult stakeholders across the healthcare sector including hospitals, physicians, consumers, payors, states, employers, advocates and relevant federal agencies to obtain direct input on execution and to build partnerships, they stated.
Prizes and challenges enable rapid response to emerging issues that can be difficult to address with more traditional funding approaches, according to HHS and ONC.
Health IT competition topics could include:
In addition, the i2 Initiative will support analysis of the health IT environment in an effort to track and model clusters of innovation while simultaneously identifying connections among innovator communities, HHS and ONC stated. The effort will identify technology development trends in a fast-moving sector to inform future advisory and policy-making activities.
This landmark initiative is made possible by the America Competes Reauthorization Act of 2010, signed by President Barack Obama on Jan. 4. The Act invests in innovation through research and development.
As part of the rollout, ONC has awarded nearly $5 million to Capital Consulting Corporation (CCC) and Health 2.0 to fund projects supporting innovations in research and encouraging health IT development through open-innovation mechanisms like prizes and challenges, the agencies stated.
The i2 Initiative will consult stakeholders across the healthcare sector including hospitals, physicians, consumers, payors, states, employers, advocates and relevant federal agencies to obtain direct input on execution and to build partnerships, they stated.
Prizes and challenges enable rapid response to emerging issues that can be difficult to address with more traditional funding approaches, according to HHS and ONC.
Health IT competition topics could include:
- Applications that allow an individual to share health information with members of his or her social network;
- Applications that generate results for patients, caregivers, and/or clinicians by providing them with access information that can support their needs and decisions;
- Applications that allow individuals to connect during natural disasters and other periods of emergency; and
- Tools that facilitate exchange of health information while allowing individuals to customize the privacy allowances for their personal health records.
In addition, the i2 Initiative will support analysis of the health IT environment in an effort to track and model clusters of innovation while simultaneously identifying connections among innovator communities, HHS and ONC stated. The effort will identify technology development trends in a fast-moving sector to inform future advisory and policy-making activities.