Yale hackathon focuses on readmissions

A recent hackathon focused on hospital readmissions was formed and launched by the Yale Center for Biomedical and Interventional Technology (CBIT), led by Executive Director Christopher Loose, PhD, and the Yale-New Haven Hospital Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CORE), led by Executive Director Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, with partnerships extended to MIT Hacking Medicine and UCONN. It was the first of its kind at Yale.

The hackathon had 245 applicant submissions, 190 accepted applicants and 23 presenting teams across a range of disciplines, universities and corporations, according to an article posted on the Yale information technology services website. 

Software developers, engineers, students, designers, physicians, nurses, research scientists, entrepreneurs and public health professionals worked tirelessly and collaboratively around-the-clock to produce the most innovative and clever health solutions. 

The judges, who included a deputy provost, a deputy dean, senior faculty members, researchers, physicians, entrepreneurs, and industry CIOs and CTOs, awarded the top prize to the INcentiHALER team who worked on an innovative dose-monitoring asthma inhaler prototype. Other notable projects were a video game for kids with special conditions that would help them and their parents track their food intake, and an application for at-home on-demand nursing care to a solution for reducing in-hospital patient alarms. 

On April 23, there will be a $3,000 grand prize award for returning teams and participants who have continued to work on their innovations. They will present their progress and a more in-depth assessment of how their product can practically and feasibly help patients.