[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 110 (Thursday, June 7, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33737-33739]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-13819]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Announcement of Requirements and Registration for ``Blue Button
Mash Up Challenge''
AGENCY: Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information
Technology, HHS.
Award Approving Official: Farzad Mostashari, National Coordinator
for Health Information Technology.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information
Technology (ONC) and the Department of Veterans Affairs are working to
empower individuals to be partners in their health through health
information technology (health IT). Giving patients access to
information about them related to the care they receive from doctors
and other healthcare providers is in itself valuable, but it is also
important to enable patients to use that information to make informed
decisions.
Individuals should be able to access and use their basic health
information together with other information to take action: To better
understand their current health status, use decision support software
to choose treatments, anticipate and consider the costs of different
options, and target and modify the everyday behaviors that have the
greatest impact on their health. Inspired by the well-known ``three-
part aim'' for improvement of the health care system, this challenge
requires participants to help individuals to take action based on
combining their health information with additional information that
puts it into a more meaningful context.
The statutory authority for this challenge competition is Section
105 of the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-
358).
DATES: Effective on June 5, 2012. Challenge submission period ends
September 5, 2012, 11:59 p.m. et.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Adam Wong, 202-720-2866; Wil Yu, 202-
690-5920.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
[[Page 33738]]
Subject of Challenge Competition
This challenge builds on a prior Blue Button challenge to make
personal health information more usable and meaningful for the
individual consumer or patient. Apps must be platform neutral. The
challenge is broken into two parts:
1. App Development: Entrants must submit an app that makes the best
use of Blue Button downloaded personal health data and combines it with
other types of data. Apps must include data from at least two of the
three part aim categories below.
2. Reach: The app must be able to garner high patient engagement
rates. Entrants will therefore have to demonstrate a partnership with a
personal health information data holding organization (such as a
provider, payor, or Personal Health Record vendor--see healthit.gov/pledge for a definition of a data holding organization) to achieve wide
distribution among patients.
Applying the Three Part Aim: To participate in the challenge,
entrants must mash up Blue Button data--data about a patient which the
patient can download directly using a health plan's, doctor's or
hospital's Blue Button function--with information from two or more of
the three part aim categories. Below are examples of types of
contextual data that would qualify for purposes of this contest.
Entrants can use data sets from the categories below or similar data
sets.
Components of the Three Part Aim
Part 1: Better Care Interactions With the Healthcare System
Assist individuals in choosing high quality care that is
relevant to their individual needs by including ratings for physician
comparisons, hospital comparisons, or other care quality data.
Assist individuals in identifying providers, practices,
and hospitals that are health information technology enabled by using
information from CMS related to Meaningful Use or other sources.
Support individuals in understanding their current state
of health by combining clinical data and medical claims data to create
a comprehensive list of the individual's medical conditions.
Support individuals in understanding their current
medication regimen by aggregating clinical data from doctors/hospitals,
prescription claims data, and downloaded clinical data to create a
single comprehensive list of medications.
Part 2: Better Care for Oneself Outside of the Healthcare System
Provide support to help an individual meet some of their
personally stated health goals, (for example related to healthy eating,
exercise, social support, or other virtual or geographically based
resources).
Provide an easily understood representation of an
individual's health status in comparisons to others of a similar
demographic (age, gender, ethnicity, or otherwise), and make
recommendations for actionable things an individual could do toward
better health outcomes based on their comparative health data.
Extrapolate how healthy behavior change can lead to
positive health outcomes over time (for example show potential weight
loss and reduced risk of cardiac illness from adding two 30 minute
walks per week)
Part 3: Reduced Costs
Provide information related to costs of relevant health
care services (treatments, procedures, medication formularies, etc.)
and/or financial savings likely to accrue from behavior changes.
Create algorithms that exhibit cost savings to the
individual and/or the health care system if the individual makes
healthy living interventions, or different cost related choices in
their health care.
Eligibility Rules for Participating in the Competition
To be eligible to win a prize under this challenge, an individual
or entity--
(1) Shall have registered to participate in the competition under
the rules promulgated by the Office of the National Coordinator for
Health Information Technology.
(2) Shall have complied with all the requirements under this
section.
(3) In the case of a private entity, shall be incorporated in and
maintain a primary place of business in the United States, and in the
case of an individual, whether participating singly or in a group,
shall be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States.
(4) May not be a Federal entity or Federal employee acting within
the scope of their employment.
(5) Shall not be an HHS employee working on their applications or
submissions during assigned duty hours.
(6) Shall not be an employee of Office of the National Coordinator
for Health IT.
(7) Federal grantees may not use Federal funds to develop COMPETES
Act challenge applications unless consistent with the purpose of their
grant award.
(8) Federal contractors may not use Federal funds from a contract
to develop COMPETES Act challenge applications or to fund efforts in
support of a COMPETES Act challenge submission.
An individual or entity shall not be deemed ineligible because the
individual or entity used Federal facilities or consulted with Federal
employees during a competition if the facilities and employees are made
available to all individuals and entities participating in the
competition on an equitable basis.
Entrants must agree to assume any and all risks and waive claims
against the Federal Government and its related entities, except in the
case of willful misconduct, for any injury, death, damage, or loss of
property, revenue, or profits, whether direct, indirect, or
consequential, arising from my participation in this prize contest,
whether the injury, death, damage, or loss arises through negligence or
otherwise.
Entrants must also agree to indemnify the Federal Government
against third party claims for damages arising from or related to
competition activities.
Registration Process for Participants
To register for this challenge participants should either:
Access the www.challenge.gov Web site and search for the
``Blue Button Mash Up Challenge''.
Access the ONC Investing in Innovation (i2) Challenge Web
site at:
[cir] http://www.health2con.com/devchallenge/challenges/onc-i2-challenges/.
[cir] A registration link for the challenge can be found on the
landing page under the challenge description.
Amount of the Prize
First Prize: $45,000.
Second Prize: $20,000.
Third Prize: $10,000.
Awards may be subject to Federal income taxes and HHS will comply
with IRS withholding and reporting requirements, where applicable.
Payment of the Prize
Prize will be paid by contractor.
Basis Upon Which Winner Will Be Selected
The ONC review panel will make selections based upon the following
criteria:
Effectively integrate Blue Button data that incorporates
elements from two or more of the sections described
[[Page 33739]]
above (special consideration will be given to apps and tools that
incorporate data from all three components of the three-part aim).
Integrate patient-centered design and usability concepts
to drive high patient adoption and engagement rates.
Innovation--how is the data mashed up in innovative ways
to contextualize the individual's Blue Button downloaded data.
Provide a one page implementation plan for how this app
solution will be implemented for scalability, including details for
marketing and promotion.
Existing or modified apps should show an uptake in their
initial user base demonstrating the potential for market penetration
based on Blue Button data contextualization capabilities.
Additional Information
Ownership of intellectual property is determined by the following:
Each entrant retains title and full ownership in and to
their submission. Entrants expressly reserve all intellectual property
rights not expressly granted under the challenge agreement.
By participating in the challenge, each entrant hereby
irrevocably grants to Sponsor and Administrator a limited, non-
exclusive, royalty free, worldwide, license and right to reproduce,
publically perform, publically display, and use the Submission to the
extent necessary to administer the challenge, and to publically perform
and publically display the Submission, including, without limitation,
for advertising and promotional purposes relating to the challenge.
Authority: 15 U.S.C. 3719.
Dated: May 31, 2012.
Farzad Mostashari,
National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.
[FR Doc. 2012-13819 Filed 6-6-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-45-P