ONC Pushes For Health IT Innovation With Startup "Challenge"
By Megan Williams, contributing writer
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) is taking proactive measures to push innovation in the healthcare space.
In a blog post, the office pointed to the $700 million invested in health technology in the first quarter of 2014 — an amount that reflects a year-over-year growth rate of 87 percent. The office recognizes that the sector is growing rapidly, especially in the areas of web and mobile applications that are finally beginning to change the way both patients and providers interact with the larger healthcare system.
Continuing Challenges
Still, healthcare startups are struggling. The young organizations are having problems finding pilot partners to build the evidence base that’s crucial in demonstrating that their product works. Crossing this hurdle is more than just a nicety in healthcare — it’s essential in finding potential investors, but also in persuading the providers, patients, payers, and healthcare systems that will eventually become their customers.
The ONC Steps In
The ONC has decided to lend a hand in the process, to support innovators in making these connections and demonstrating the value of the solutions they offer on a market level. The Market R&D Pilot Challenge, inspired by previous federal competitions like the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Development Innovation Ventures, asks innovators to partner with host sites (hospitals, clinics, laboratories, and pharmacies) to create a pilot proposal.
The program will select a maximum of six teams for implementation. After they are selected, each team will go through a “rigorous” evaluation stage and then share its findings in collaboration with ONC.
Challenge Details
The challenge amounts to a $300K, one-year-long commitment to innovation by the office. It will be split into halves, with the first focusing on team creation, selection, and the preparation of pilots. The second six months will incorporate teams running their pilot and producing evaluation reports. The teams will be awarded $25K at selection and another $25K once the pilot and evaluation are completed. Selection will be finished by April 30, 2015.
The office adds, “That’s not the only new effort to support health innovation. We’re excited to announce that we are also working with startup incubators around the country to host Health Innovators Boot camps. These boot camps are full or half day trainings for the startup community on federal regulations, programs, and funding opportunities that can have a positive effect on their products. These boot camps will tackle topics like privacy and security, open federal datasets, new payment models incentivized by the Affordable Care Act, and ONC’s technical standards for consumer information exchange”
You can read more about this initiative and other health IT news at HealthIT.gov.