Health 2.0, in collaboration with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Tech

Aug. 1, 2011 - PRLog -- SAN FRANCISCO – Health 2.0, in conjunction with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), is launching a new innovation competition sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) titled, "Using Public Data for Cancer Prevention and Control: From Innovation to Impact."

This highly innovative effort is presented as part of the ONC's Investing in Innovations ("i2") Initiative, and is being managed by Health 2.0 (www.health2con.com) through the Health 2.0 Developer Challenge program (www.health2challenge.org). Teams are asked to develop an application that has the potential to integrate with existing health information technology platforms and addresses targets at one or more points on the cancer control continuum, using public data that are relevant to cancer prevention and control. The competition launches officially on Thursday, July 21st and can be found at: http://www.health2challenge.org/2011/06/08/using-public-data-for-cancer-prevention-and-control-from-innovation-to-impact/

Teams are required to address challenges faced by consumers, clinicians, or researchers on the continuum of cancer control. Suggested targets include promoting healthy behaviors (e.g., nutrition, physical activity, smoking cessation), early detection and screening, informed decision-making, and adherence to treatment plans. This is a two-phase challenge. Submissions for Phase I are due August 26, 2011, and will be judged on their use of cancer-related data, as well as potential for impact, innovation, and usability. Finalists from Phase I will receive a $10,000 award at a major health IT conference in September 2011. In Phase II, up to two winning teams from the slate of finalists will each receive a $20,000 award at an international system sciences conference in January 2012.

About the Investing in Innovation (i2) program: The Investing in Innovation (i2) program utilizes prizes and challenges to facilitate innovation and obtain solutions to intractable health IT problems. Aligned with the Administration’s innovation agenda, i2 is the first federal program to operate under the authority of the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010, signed into law by President Obama on January 4, 2011. For details see http://www.health2challenge.org/category/onc/.

About NCI: NCI, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), was established by Congress in 1937 and is the leading Federal agency and the world’s largest organization solely dedicated to cancer-related research (including health communication and informatics), training, and dissemination of information. As the leader of the National Cancer Program, NCI also provides vision and leadership to the global cancer community. For more information, see www.cancer.gov.

About ONC: ONC is the principal Federal entity charged with coordination of nationwide efforts to implement and use the most advanced health information technology and the electronic exchange of health information. The position of National Coordinator was created in 2004, through an Executive Order, and legislatively mandated in the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) of 2009. For more information, see healthit.hhs.gov.

About Health 2.0: The conference. The media network. The Innovation Community. The Health 2.0 Conference is the leading showcase of cutting-edge technologies in health care, including Online Communities, Search and lightweight Tools for consumers to manage their health and connect to providers online. The Health 2.0 Developer Challenge is a series of prize competitions promoting health technology innovation. Health 2.0 also has its own media channels, Health 2.0 News and Health 2.0 TV; its own market intelligence service, Health 2.0 Advisors; and also sponsors the Health 2.0 Accelerator industry consortium. Health 2.0 was founded by Indu Subaiya & Matthew Holt in 2007 and is now a community of hundreds of organizations and thousands of innovators. For more information, see www.health2con.com.