Feds recognize innovative new consumer and provider apps

Winners show progress within the digital health infrastructure, says Vindell Washington, MD.


Having challenged software developers to design apps to help consumers easily collect and integrate their health data from disparate providers and IT systems, and offer apps to physicians that expand use of electronic health records, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology now has picked the winners.



“We are thrilled to recognize new tools that make it easier for individuals and clinicians to access health information and put it to use,” Vindell Washington, MD, who just resigned as national coordinator for health information technology, said in a statement.

For consumer data aggregation, PatientLink Enterprises received the $50,000 first place prize. Its cloud-based MyLinks software uses the emerging FHIR and Direct messaging interoperability standards to authenticate and transmit encrypted data to trusted recipients, supporting patient participation in research, monitoring data from remote devices and using interactive tools, according to ONC.

Also See: Smartphone apps are found to reduce depression, anxiety

Second place and $25,000 went to Green Circle Health for an app that uses FHIR to import data to a platform hosting a family health dashboard of personal and medical device data, remote monitoring and reminders.

Vendor 1upHealth, with software to help patients organize and share data from disparate sources, received an honorable mention.

Under the Provider User Experience Challenge, the goal was to demonstrate how data made accessible to apps through application programming interfaces enhance provider use of electronic health records via improvements in clinical workflows and intuitiveness.

Herald Health was the winning vendor, picking up $50,000 for its software to help clinicians manage the flow of alerts and information by creation of customizable push notifications to patients, groups and other clinicians.

Also See: Top 6 ONC initiatives

A collaboration by University of Utah Health Care, Intermountain Healthcare and Duke Health, with each taking home $25,000, was the second place winner with a decision support system for treatment of infants with jaundice detected at birth based on the level of liver waste products in the blood.

PHRASE HEALTH, which offers decision support to help clinicians handle priorities such as public health alerts, received an honorable mention.

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