Health Tech Hatch will operate platform for Blue Button Co-Design Challenge

Health Tech Hatch (HTH), an online, mobile resource that aims to launch early-stage healthcare innovations for patient use, will operate the user testing platform for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT’s (ONC’s) Blue Button Co-Design Challenge, according to HTH's website.

Through the HTH online platform, ONC is crowdsourcing and crowdvoting on the highest priority issues and products they feel would advance wellness from June 3-11. ONC will announce the three most popular products for the challenge on June 12.

With co-design support from real-world patients on the HTH platform, developers will build the patient-prioritized tools in accordance with the Blue Button Plus technical guidelines during the summer. Winners of this challenge will be announced in September.

In addition, ONC is awarding prices for the best open source developer tool that will make it easier for future applications to become Blue Button Plus enabled. The total prize money is $50,000.

“Patients and developers are creating a new and robust healthcare ecosystem that will, at last, put patients at the center of their own healthcare. This is an idea whose time has come,” according to HTH's website.