Funding for two pilots were highlighted at the Annual HHS Health DataPalooza http://healthpalooza.org meeting held in Washington D.C on May 8-11, 2016. Karen DeSalvo, MD Acting Assistant Secretary for Health, National Coordinator for HIT www.healthit.gov announced $1.5 million in pilot grants to move data sharing rapidly forward.
Go to https://www.healthit.gov/techlab/pilots/high-impact-pilots for information on “High Impact Pilots” (HIP). These pilots will help test solutions, evaluate scalability, and identify the potential impacts of selected standards and technology solutions. The total funding available for HIP awards is $1.25 million with no less than three awards and no more than seven awards expected
Go to https://www.healthit.gov/techlab/pilots/standards-exploration-awards for information on the new Standards Exploration Awards (SEA). The awardees will test solutions, evaluate scalability, and identify the potential impacts of their selected standards and technology solutions. The SEA funding for $250,000 where no less than three awards and no more than five awards is expected.
Applicants for both pilots (HIP and (SEA) must select a priority category. Priority categories can include comprehensive medication management, laboratory data exchange, care coordination and a self-identified category that will identify another area to advance interoperable standards.
In addition, both HIP and SEA, applicants must also choose three impact dimensions from practice efficiency, clinical quality, cost efficiency patient experience, safety, privacy, security, and interoperable exchange.
Interested applicants may attend the Information Session Web Site Disclaimers from 2:00 p.m-3:00 p.m. ET on May 23 for HIP. The FOA is open until July 8, 2016 with Letters of Internet due by June 10th. Questions can be directed to ONC.techlab@hhs.gov.
The ONC “Move Health Data Forward Challenge” published May 11 in the Federal Register www.federalregister.og/a/2016-11102 seeks to find participants to create an API solution using specifications developed by the HEART Work Group (Heart WG) to enable individuals to send data wherever they choose.
The Challenge will have three phases. Phase 1 will award $5,000 for up to ten finalists and Phase 1 winners will be eligible to proceed to Phase 2 which will award $20,000 for up to 5 finalists each based on the prototype of their solution.
Phase winners will be eligible to proceed to Phase 3 which will award $50,000 for up to two winners each based on the participant’s ability to implement their solution. The final phase of the Challenge will require finalists to demonstrate a consumer-facing solution that incorporates the HEART implementation specifications and uses an API to move health data to the designated destination.
The Open Science Prize www.OpenSciencePrize.org a partnership between the Wellcome Trust, NIH, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute was announced at Health DataPalooza by Philip W. Bourne PhD, Associate Director for Data Science at NIH and Clare Matterson, Director of Strategy, Wellcome Trust in the UK. The goal is to unleash the power of open content and data to advance biomedical research.
The six teams announced at Health DataPalooza 2016 are going to develop a real-time air quality data hub, make unbiased clinical trial data accessible, develop tracking for pathogen surveillance and epidemiological investigation, conduct modeling of mental and neurological diseases by connecting data related to the fly brain, and accelerate gene discovery via radically open data sharing.
Up to six prizes of $80,000 each will be awarded to successful teams to develop their innovative ideas over an eight to nine month period. The second phase will have the Phase 1 prize recipient with the greatest potential to advance open science will receive a prize for $230,000.