[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 166 (Tuesday, August 27, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52921-52923]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-20790]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information
Technology; Announcement of Requirements and Registration for
``Behavioral Health Patient Empowerment 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: Behavioral health disorders are common in the United States.
Approximately 20% of adults and 13% of adolescents suffer from mental
disorders each year and 8.7% of Americans aged 12 and older experience
substance dependence or abuse each year.1 2 Rates of mental
health problems are significantly higher for patients with chronic
conditions such as diabetes, asthma, and heart conditions \3\ and
failure to treat both physical and mental health conditions results in
poorer health outcomes and higher health care costs.\3\ Yet despite the
high personal and societal burden of these disorders fewer than half of
adults and only one-third of children with mental disorders and only 11
percent of individuals with substance use disorders receive
treatment.1 2 For many individuals this results from limited
access to care, for others it is a result of reservations about
accessing specialty care.
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\1\ 2010-2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, http://www.samhsa.gov/data/nsduh/2k10nsduh/2k10results.htm.
\2\ Results from the 2010 NSDUH: Mental Health Findings: http://www.samhsa.gov/data/nsduh/2k10MH_Findings/2k10MHResults.htm.
\3\ http://www.cdc.gov/Features/MentalHealthSurveillance/.
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Health IT has significant potential to enable self management of
behavioral health disorders (including both mental health and substance
use disorders) as well as to act as a treatment extender for patients
with limited access to care. On September 16th Office of the National
Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), in partnership
with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
(SAMHSA), Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), and National
Institutes of Health (NIH) is organizing a Technology Innovations for
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Disorders Conference taking place at
the White House. This conference will highlight how technology can be
used to improve treatment for behavioral health disorders. In
conjunction with this
[[Page 52922]]
conference ONC is issuing this Behavioral Health Patient Empowerment
Challenge to identify and highlight existing technologies that empower
consumers to manage their mental health and/or substance use disorders.
The statutory authority for this challenge competition is Section
105 of the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-
358).
DATES: Submission period begins: August 21, 2013.
Submission period ends: September 3, 2013.
Winners announced: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Disorders
Conference, White House, September 16, 2013.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Adam Wong, 202-720-2866.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Subject of Challenge Competition
The Behavioral Health Patient Empowerment Challenge is a call for
developers to showcase technologies that empower consumers to manage
their mental health and/or substance use disorders. The intent of the
challenge is to identify and highlight existing innovative technologies
that use evidence based strategies to empower consumer self-management
of behavioral health disorders.
The application submitted must be available for use by consumers on
a widely-used platform for mobile devices by the submission end date of
September 3.
To be eligible to receive a prize, Solvers must submit:
(1) The functioning application, or directions to access it,
(2) an overview, of no more than 500 words, that
a. provides an overview of the target population for the tool and the
evidence base supporting the functionality included for addressing the
needs of the target population
b. discusses how the target population can use this technology to
better manage their symptoms or their recovery process
c. discusses how the application is designed to keep the user engaged
over time to promote consistent use
d. describes the application's existing ability to be integrated with
EHR/PHRs or other tools
(3) a 5 minute-maximum video demonstration of the tool.
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 can access http://www.challenge.gov and search for ``Behavioral Health Patient
Empowerment Challenge.''
Prize
The top three finishers will be invited to the event taking place
at the White House, and the winner will be able to demo it there.
Travel funding is not available, so if the winner cannot attend in
person the video demonstration of the winning technology will be played
during the conference.
The top three technologies will be highlighted on a behavioral
health technology innovations Web site which is being developed by the
National Institutes of Health (NIH) in conjunction with this
conference.
Payment of the Prize
No monetary prize is provided for this challenge.
Basis Upon Which Winner Will Be Selected
The review panel will make selections based upon the following
criteria:
Evidence base for the functionality included in the application
Application usability, including intuitiveness, capacity to engage the
user, and user interface
Comprehensiveness of the technology for addressing the behavioral
health needs of the target population
Existing ability to be integrated with EHR/PHRs or other tools
In order for an entry to be eligible to win this Challenge, it must
meet the following requirements:
General--Contestants must provide continuous access to the tool, a
detailed description of the tool, instructions on how to install and
operate the tool, and system requirements required to run the tool
(collectively, ``Submission'').
Acceptable platforms--The tool must be designed for use on a
widely-used platform for mobile devices; this includes web optimization
for mobile devices.
Section 508 Compliance--Contestants must acknowledge that they
understand that, as a pre-requisite to any subsequent acquisition by
FAR contract or other method, they may be required to make their
proposed solution compliant with Section 508 accessibility and
usability requirements at their own expense. Any electronic information
technology that is ultimately obtained by HHS for its use, development,
or maintenance must meet Section 508 accessibility and usability
standards. Past experience has demonstrated that it can be costly for
solution-providers to ``retrofit'' solutions if remediation is later
needed. The HHS Section 508 Evaluation Product Assessment Template,
available at http://www.hhs.gov/web/508/contracting/
[[Page 52923]]
technology/vendors.html, provides a useful roadmap for developers to
review. It is a simple, web-based checklist utilized by HHS officials
to allow vendors to document how their products do or do not meet the
various Section 508 requirements.
No HHS, ONC, or other federal government logo--The app must not use
HHS', ONC's, or any other federal government agency's logos or official
seals in the Submission, and must not claim endorsement.
Functionality/Accuracy--A Submission may be disqualified if the
software application fails to function as expressed in the description
provided by the user, or if the software application provides
inaccurate or incomplete information.
Security--Submissions must be free of malware. Contestant agrees
that ONC may conduct testing on the app to determine whether malware or
other security threats may be present. ONC may disqualify the app if,
in ONC's judgment, the app may damage government or others' equipment
or operating environment.
Additional Information
General Conditions: ONC reserves the right to cancel, suspend, and/
or modify the Contest, or any part of it, for any reason, at ONC's sole
discretion. Participation in this Contest constitutes a contestant's
full and unconditional agreement to abide by the Contest's Official
Rules found at www.challenge.gov.
Privacy Policy: ChallengePost collects personal information from
you when you register on Challenge.gov. The information collected is
subject to the ChallengePost privacy policy located at
www.challengepost.com/privacy.
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: August 19, 2013.
David Muntz,
Principal Deputy National Coordinator for Health Information
Technology.
[FR Doc. 2013-20790 Filed 8-26-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-45-P