[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 204 (Monday, October 22, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64521-64523]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-25954]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES


Announcement of Requirements and Registration for ``Health Design 
Challenge''

AGENCY: Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information 
Technology, HHS.
    Award Approving Official: Farzad Mostashari, National Coordinator 
for Health Information Technology.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Blue Button for America is a collaborative Federal effort led 
by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of 
Veterans Affairs to ensure everyone across the country gets access to 
their medical records. By clicking on a Blue Button icon, patients can 
get their personal health information in an electronic

[[Page 64522]]

format--a service that has not been available to most people until very 
recently. Because of Blue Button, over 1 million Americans have already 
downloaded their health records from their medical providers and 
insurance companies, and the number is expected to increase 
dramatically in the near future.
    Being able to access your health information on demand can be 
lifesaving in an emergency situation, can help prevent medication 
errors, and can improve care coordination so everyone who is caring for 
you is on the same page. However, too often health information is 
presented in an unwieldy and unintelligible way that makes it hard for 
patients, their caregivers, and their physicians to use. There is an 
opportunity for talented designers to reshape the way health records 
are presented to create a better patient experience.
    The statutory authority for this challenge competition is Section 
105 of the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-
358).

DATES: Effective on October 16, 2012. Challenge submission period ends 
November 30, 2012, 11:59 p.m. et.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Adam Wong, 202-720-2866 and Ryan 
Panchadsaram, 202-690-0099

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Subject of Challenge Competition:
    The purpose of this challenge is to improve the design of the 
medical record so it is more usable by and meaningful to patients, 
their families, and others who take care of them. This is an 
opportunity to take the plain-text Blue Button file and enrich it with 
visuals and a better layout. Innovators will be invited to submit their 
best designs for a medical record that can be printed and viewed 
digitally.
    This challenge will focus on the content defined by a format called 
the Continuity of Care Document (CCD). A CCD is a common template used 
to describe a patient's health history and can be output by electronic 
medical record (EMR) software. Submitted designs should use the 
sections and fields found in a CCD. See the resources section on 
Challenge.gov for a sample CCD.
    Challenge entrants will submit a design that:
    [ssquf] Improves the visual layout and style of the information 
from the medical record.
    [ssquf] Makes it easier for a patient to manage his/her health.
    [ssquf] Enables a medical professional to digest information more 
efficiently
    [ssquf] Aids a caregiver such as a family member or friend in his/
her duties and responsibilities with respect to the patient
    Entrants should be conscious of how the wide variety of personas 
will affect their design. Our healthcare system takes care of the 
following types of individuals:
    [ssquf] An underserved inner-city parent with lower health 
literacy.
    [ssquf] A senior citizen that has a hard time reading.
    [ssquf] A young adult who is engaged with technology and mobile 
devices.
    [ssquf] An adult whose first language is not English.
    [ssquf] A patient with breast cancer receiving care from multiple 
providers.
    [ssquf] A busy mom managing her kids' health and helping her aging 
parents.
    This challenge is an opportunity for talented individuals to touch 
the lives of Americans across the country through design. The most 
innovative designs will be showcased in an online gallery and in a 
physical exhibit at the Annual ONC Meeting in Washington DC. Winning 
submissions will receive monetary prizes.
    A panel of curators will select a final design (that may combine 
elements of numerous winning designs) that will be built and open-
sourced on the code sharing community Github. Open sourcing the final 
product will enable EHR developers to improve on it by adding new 
functionality or creating new styles that serve different patient 
populations, and to integrate it into actual products.
    The Department of Veterans Affairs enthusiastically supports the 
open-source development of the design because it could enable them to 
improve MyHealtheVet, the patient portal used by veterans and their 
families across the country.
    Because of the collaborative and open source nature of the 
challenge, all entries are required to be submitted under a Creative 
Commons license. This license allows the community to use and adapt the 
designs while ensuring that the designer receives attribution. More 
details on the license can be found at http://creativecommons.org.
    In order for an entry to be eligible to win this Challenge, it must 
meet the following requirements:
    [ssquf] Deliverable: Must be an image or browser viewable file. The 
acceptable image formats: .PNG, .JPG, .GIF, .TIFF, .PSD, .AI, and .PDF. 
The acceptable browser viewable format is .HTML.
    [ssquf] Feasibility: This challenge requires only that the design 
of the medical record to be submitted. It is not the responsibility of 
the entrant to build or code a working version of the design. However, 
the design must be ultimately implementable using HTML, CSS, and 
JavaScript.
    [ssquf] Data: The design must be built off the data fields found in 
a Continuity of Care Document (CCD).
    Eligibility Rules for Participating in the Competition:
    To be eligible to win a prize under this challenge, an individual 
or entity--
    (1) Shall have registered to participate in the competition under 
the rules promulgated by the Office of the National Coordinator for 
Health Information Technology.
    (2) Shall have complied with all the requirements under this 
section.
    (3) In the case of a private entity, shall be incorporated in and 
maintain a primary place of business in the United States, and in the 
case of an individual, whether participating singly or in a group, 
shall be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States.
    (4) May not be a Federal entity or Federal employee acting within 
the scope of their employment.
    (5) Shall not be an HHS employee working on their applications or 
submissions during assigned duty hours.
    (6) Shall not be an employee of Office of the National Coordinator 
for Health IT.
    (7) Federal grantees may not use Federal funds to develop COMPETES 
Act challenge applications unless consistent with the purpose of their 
grant award.
    (8) Federal contractors may not use Federal funds from a contract 
to develop COMPETES Act challenge applications or to fund efforts in 
support of a COMPETES Act challenge submission.
    An individual or entity shall not be deemed ineligible because the 
individual or entity used Federal facilities or consulted with Federal 
employees during a competition if the facilities and employees are made 
available to all individuals and entities participating in the 
competition on an equitable basis.
    Entrants must agree to assume any and all risks and waive claims 
against the Federal Government and its related entities, except in the 
case of willful misconduct, for any injury, death, damage, or loss of 
property, revenue, or profits, whether direct, indirect, or 
consequential, arising from my participation in this prize contest, 
whether the injury, death, damage, or loss arises through negligence or 
otherwise.
    Entrants must also agree to indemnify the Federal Government 
against third

[[Page 64523]]

party claims for damages arising from or related to competition 
activities.
    Registration Process for Participants:
    To register for this challenge participants should either:
[ssquf] Access the www.challenge.gov Web site and search for the 
``Health Design Challenge''.
[ssquf] Access the ONC Investing in Innovation (i2) Challenge Web site 
at:
    [cir] http://www.health2con.com/devchallenge/challenges/onc-i2-challenges/.
    [cir] A registration link for the challenge can be found on the 
landing page under the challenge description.
    Amount of the Prize:
    Each submission will be considered for all four prize categories 
listed below. A review panel will select winners based on defined 
criteria (below). An individual submission can win multiple awards.
    [ssquf] Overall Design: $16,000 (1st), $6,000 (2nd), and $4,000 
(3rd).
    [ssquf] Best Medication Section--$5,000 (1st), $3,000 (2nd), and 
$1,000 (3rd).
    [ssquf] Best Medical/Problem History Section--$5,000 (1st), $2,000 
(2nd), and $1,000 (3rd).
    [ssquf] Best Lab Summaries--$5,000 (1st), $2,000 (2nd), and $1,000 
(3rd).
    Awards may be subject to Federal income taxes and HHS will comply 
with IRS withholding and reporting requirements, where applicable.
    Payment of the Prize:
    Prize will be paid by contractor.
    Basis Upon Which Winners Will Be Selected:
    The review panel will make selections based upon the following 
criteria:
    [ssquf] Overall Appeal.
    [ssquf] Patient Usefulness--Does it address the needs of a patient?
    [ssquf] Caregiver Usefulness--Does it ease the responsibilities of 
a caregiver?
    [ssquf] Physician Usefulness--Can a physician integrate it into 
their workflow?
    [ssquf] Visual Hierarchy--Can the most important information be 
easily found?
    [ssquf] Information Density--Is it easy to digest the information 
that is presented?
    [ssquf] Accessibility--Can a varied population make use of this 
document?
    Additional Information:

    Authority: 15 U.S.C. 3719.

    Dated: October 15, 2012.
Farzad Mostashari,
National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.
[FR Doc. 2012-25954 Filed 10-19-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-45-P