HHS Announces Winners of Health Information App Challenges
The winning companies developed "new tools that make it easier for individuals and clinicians to access health information and put it to use," said Dr. Vindell Washington, national coordinator for health information technology.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has announced the Phase 2 winners for the Consumer Health Data Aggregator Challenge and the Provider User Experience Challenge, which were designed to encourage the development of market-ready apps that would allow consumers and providers to aggregate health data from different sources into a secure, user-friendly product. Challenge submissions were required to use Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR®) and open application programming interfaces (APIs), which can make it easier and more efficient to retrieve and share information.
"We are thrilled to recognize new tools that make it easier for individuals and clinicians to access health information and put it to use," said Dr. Vindell Washington, national coordinator for health information technology. "These apps reflect the incredible progress that is possible as a result of the digital health infrastructure that the public and private sector have built together over the last eight years."
The Consumer Health Data Aggregator Challenge asked submitters to address a need experienced by many consumers: the ability to easily and electronically access and securely integrate their health data from different health care providers using various IT systems. PatientLink Enterprises won first place and the $50,000 prize for MyLinks, is a cloud-based application. Second place and "connector" prizes, with an award amount of $25,000 apiece, were won by Green Circle Health for an app using FHIR® to import patient data into a platform integrating a comprehensive family health dashboard. 1upHealth, which helps patients organize and share data from disparate sources, was recognized as an Honorable Mention.
The Provider User Experience Challenge focused on demonstrating how data made accessible to apps through APIs can enhance health care providers' use of their electronic health record systems by making clinical workflows more efficient and intuitive. First place, with an award amount of $50,000, was won by Herald Health for a solution helping clinicians manage alerts and information by allowing them to create highly customizable push notifications. Second place and "connector" prizes, again with an award amount of $25,000 each, were won by the collaboration of University of Utah Health Care, Intermountain Healthcare, and Duke Health for a clinical decision support tool that can provide recommendations for the treatment of babies with jaundice detected at birth based on the level of liver waste products found in their blood.
PHRASE Health, which uses clinical decision support to help clinicians align with priorities such as public health alerts, was recognized as an Honorable Mention.