Blue Button Mash Up Challenge Criteria and Eligibility

The Blue Button Initiative is an effort to accelerate patient access to their health records. In August 2010 President Obama announced the functionality that allowed Veterans to download their health information from their MyHealthVet account. With the Blue Button you can download your health information in a ASCII text format to your computer, PHR,  smart phone, thumb drive, etc., to share with doctor, family members or loved ones.

At last week’s Health Data Initiative Forum ONC’s Mostashari announced the “Blue Button Mash Up Challenge”. The challenge is to design an application that combines an individual’s personal health information with other data empowering them to make better decisions about their care. Deadline for submission is September 5, 2012. First prize will be awarded $45,000, second $20,000 and third $10,000.

From the notice issued by HHS:  “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.”  As a reminder, the “three-part aim” here is Better Care Interactions With the Healthcare System, Better Care for Oneself Outside of the Healthcare System and Reduced Costs.

The criteria for submission:

• Effectively integrate Blue Button data that incorporates elements from two or more of the sections describedabove (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.Show citation box
• 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.

You can learn more about the Blue Button Mash Up Challenge eligibility and how to submit here.