SMART-Indivo Challenge

About the Challenge

Background

SMART <http://www.smartplatforms.org> (Substitutable Medical Apps, Reusable Technologies) is one of four Strategic Health IT Advanced Research Projects (SHARP) funded by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology <http://healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=1806&mode=2>.  

A health care system adapting to the effects of an aging population, growing expenditures, and a diminishing primary care workforce needs the support of a flexible information infrastructure that facilitates innovation in wellness, health care, and public health. Flexibility is critical, since the system will have to function under new policies and in the service of new health care delivery mechanisms, and it will need to incorporate emerging information technologies on an ongoing basis. SMART capacitates innovation in health care by providing common APIs and standards for electronic medical records and personally controlled health records, enabling them to act as iPhone-like platforms; users can download or delete substitutable apps. Each app is entirely modular, and can thus be readily substituted with new apps that provide improved functionality and usability. Continuous innovation is the result.

Indivo <http://indivohealth.org> enables individuals to own and manage a complete, secure, digital copy of their health and wellness information, integrated across sites of care and over time. Indivo is entirely free and open-source, and is designed as a platform for apps: built to be extended and customized. Using the SMART API and standards, augmented by functionality like sharing, developers can create powerful patient-facing applications. Its objective is to lower the barriers to creating apps for health, leaving developers to be able to focus on their ideas.

Challenge Description

The “SMART-Indivo Challenge” is a call to developers to build an Indivo app that provides value to patients using data delivered through the SMART API and its Indivo-specific extensions. The app will be an HTML5 or XHTML Web app or an iOS app that runs against the Indivo Developer Sandbox, where it can access patient demographics, medications, laboratory tests, and diagnoses using Web standards. Developers could, for example, build a medication manager, a health risk detector, a patient-friendly laboratory visualization tool, or an app that integrates external data sources (see http://www.healthdata.gov/) with patient records in real time.

More information about SMART and Indivo APIs can be found at http://indivohealth.org/smart-indivo-app-challenge/.

Mobile HTML5 and XHTML web app submissions are welcome, as are native applications built on Indivo’s iOS Framework.                        

Timeline

• Submission Period Begins: July 9, 2012
• Submission Period for Entries Ends: September 28, 2012
• Evaluation Process for Entries Begins: October 3, 2012
• Evaluation Process for Entries Ends: October 12, 2012
• Winners notified: October 18, 2012
• Winners Announced: Conference TBD, October-November, 2012

Prizes

• Total: $13,000 in prizes
• First Place: $10,000 plus conference exhibition opportunity
• Second Place: $2,000
• Third Place: $1,000

Submission Requirements

In order for an entry to be eligible to win this Challenge, it must meet the following requirements:

1. General – Contestants must provide continuous access to the app, a detailed description of the app, instructions on how to install and operate the app, and system requirements required to run the app (collectively, “Submission”)
2. No HHS or ONC logo – The app must not use HHS’ or ONC’s logo or official seal in the Submission, and must not claim endorsement.
3. Functionality/Accuracy – A Submission may be disqualified if the application fails to function as expressed in the description provided by the user, or if the application provides inaccurate or incomplete information.
4. Security – Submissions must be free of malware. Contestant agrees that the 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.

Personnel of the SHARP program and their students are not eligible to compete for the prize.

Review Criteria

The review panel will make selections based upon the following criteria:

• Usefulness to patients
• Importance to clinical medicine or public health
• Interface and presentation
• Use of the Indivo and SMART APIs
• Creative use of data from the sandbox and (optionally) from open health data sources