The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) https://www.ahrq.gov has launched their “AHRQ Step-Up App Challenge”, a three phase competition to address the need for greater use of standardized Patient-Reported Outcomes (PRO) data in clinical care and research. The total prize pool for the challenge is $250,000.
PRO data is defined as any report on the status of a patient’s health condition that comes directly from the patient, without interpretation of the patient’s response by a clinician or other medical expert. This data can yield insights into health status, function, symptom burden, adherence, health behaviors, and quality of life.
In partnership with AHRQ, the HHS Office of the Secretary is providing financial support from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Trust Fund. The HHS Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology is leading stakeholder efforts to develop the technical specifications for the “AHRQ Step-Up App Challenge”.
PRO data or patient self-assessments offer a complementary perspective to clinician assessments and are used in research to explore patient perspectives about their treatments, health outcomes, and the quality of services received.
However, PRO data is not routinely collected and used in practices. The reason is that there is no standardized way to collect and integrate PRO data into health IT systems, which can limit the ability for clinicians to use the data, share the data across health systems for research, or use for other purposes including quality improvement.
The “AHRQ Step-Up App Challenge” seeks technologists who can develop and present user friendly apps capable of collecting standardized PRO data in various ambulatory settings, including primary and specialty care. The winning app will be tested in nine practice settings affiliated with MedStar Health in Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia.
The AHRQ Step-Up App Challenge has three phases:
- Phase 1—Participants will need to submit a five page business proposal, demonstrating the originality and feasibility of their app idea. Up to ten winners will be selected with a prize of up to $12,000 each
- Phase 2—Phase one winners will develop and present an app capable of collecting standardized PRO data in various ambulatory care settings, including primary and specialty care. First prize in this phase is up to $35,000, second prize is $30,000, and third prize is $25,000
- Phase 3—Grand prize winner in phase two will collaborate with MedStar Health to test the app in nine practices. Upon completion of a successful pilot test, the grand prize winner will be awarded up to $40,000 bringing the winning prize to as much as $87,000
The deadline for submitting app ideas is September 24, 2018. AHRQ will be holding a webinar on the Challenge on August 23 from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm EDT. Additional information on the AHRQ Step-Up Challenge is available at https://www.ahrq.gov/stepupappchallenge.