Breaking Down Barriers to Health IT through Entrepreneurship
When this Administration took office, President Obama made historic efforts to promote and cultivate a culture of innovation across government. We’ve seen the first-ever Open Government plan and launching of initiatives that harness the creativity of the American people to help solve our toughest problems.
At the Department of Health and Human Services, we’re looking at new ways to collaborate with innovators who seek to deliver better health and health care at lower cost. Healthcare technology, particularly health IT, is a particular area where a great deal of innovation is taking place – leading to the creation of new jobs in Health IT.
As part of the Administration’s Startup America campaign to promote entrepreneurship, we’ve hosted events targeting entrepreneurs, investors and senior administration officials to come up with new opportunities around health care innovations. We’ve also encouraged new and creative ways of thinking through various prizes and challenge efforts to create new tools and applications to support better health and health care.
With this in mind, we are excited to participate in the Startup America Policy Challenge launched by Aneesh Chopra, US Chief Technology Officer. This Challenge calls for new ideas from innovators and people across the country about how to knock down barriers to encourage more entrepreneurial innovation in several areas, including Health IT. The question posed is:
Entrepreneurs can submit their ideas online. The public, including students and other solvers, will be invited to translate the best ideas into "Policy Business Plans.” You can read more about the Challenge and how to participate here.
As Todd Park, HHS’ Chief Technology Officer often says, there has never been a better time to be a health care innovator. The Startup America Policy Challenge encourages entrepreneurs at all levels to think about new ways to achieve better health, better care, and lower cost through Health IT.
