[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 84 (Wednesday, May 1, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25448-25450]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-10192]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES


Announcement of Requirements and Registration for ``Crowds Care 
for Cancer: Supporting Survivors 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: The number of cancer survivors in the United States is 
currently estimated at 14 million and is expected to increase 
significantly with the aging of the United States population. Cancer 
survivors may experience a host of long-term and late effects that 
require coordinated follow-up care after completion of primary 
treatment for cancer. Despite significant progress in cancer treatment, 
the complex, often fragmented state of end-of-treatment care may lead 
to harmful breakdowns in patient-provider communication and follow-up 
care for cancer survivors. Enabling better communication, exchange of 
data, and care coordination can help improve end-of-treatment 
consultations and care planning for cancer survivors. Innovative new 
approaches are needed to assist patients and their support networks use 
information from their providers and care plans to facilitate cancer 
follow-up care that is comprehensive, coordinated, and of high-quality.
    To address the needs of cancer survivors, the Office of the 
National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) is 
launching the Crowds Care for Cancer: Supporting Survivors Challenge in 
conjunction with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) as part of the 
Investing in Innovation (i2) program. This challenge aims to 
incentivize the development of innovative information management tools 
and applications that help survivors manage their transition from 
specialty to primary care; for example, by facilitating activities such 
as coordinating recommendations, appointments, and resources from 
patient support networks and healthcare providers involved in their 
care. Submissions should help survivors use information from their 
providers and survivorship care plans to improve communication and 
coordination within their care networks that can help facilitate the 
planning and delivery of coordinated, high-quality, and patient-
centered follow-up care. These networks often include families, 
friends, and members of their primary and specialty care teams. The 
ultimate goal of this challenge is to develop applications that will 
better meet the needs of cancer survivors. Finalists from Phase I will 
garner seed funding and publicity from ONC and NCI to assist qualified 
entrants in developing applications ready for solicitation of 
additional development resources.

DATES: 

Phase I:

    April 29, 2013: Crowds Care for Cancer: Supporting Survivors 
Challenge launch.
    May 28, 2013, 11:59 p.m. PDT: Deadline for Phase I Submissions.
    June 3, 2013: Up to three finalists announced, and launch of Phase 
II.

Phase II:

    June 10, 2013: Crowdfunding portal opens platform for finalists to 
receive feedback and support/backing.
    July 5, 2013: End of Crowdfunding phase.
    July 12, 2013 11:59 p.m. PDT: Deadline for final development and 
submission of application.
    July-August, 2013: Announce grand prize winner.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Abdul Shaikh, Ph.D., MHSc, Program 
Director, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health 
(email: [email protected]; 301-594-6690); Adam Wong, Office of the 
National Coordinator for Health Information Technology 
([email protected], 202-720-2866).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Subject of Challenge Competition

    To address the needs of cancer survivors, the Office of the 
National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) is 
launching the Crowds Care for Cancer: Supporting Survivors Challenge in 
conjunction with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) as part of the 
Investing in Innovation (i2) program. This challenge aims to 
incentivize the development of innovative information management tools 
and applications that help survivors manage their transition from 
specialty to primary care, for example, by facilitating activities such 
as coordinating recommendations, appointments, and resources from 
patient support networks and healthcare providers involved in their 
care. Submissions should help survivors use information from their 
providers and survivorship care plans to improve

[[Page 25449]]

communication and coordination within their care networks that can help 
facilitate the planning and delivery of coordinated, high-quality, and 
patient-centered follow-up care. These networks often include families, 
friends, and members of their primary and specialty care teams. The 
ultimate goal of this challenge is to develop applications that will 
better meet the needs of cancer survivors. Finalists from Phase I will 
garner seed funding and publicity from ONC and NCI to assist qualified 
entrants in developing applications ready for solicitation of 
additional development resources.
    As part of this goal, submissions could improve transitional and 
follow-up care after cancer treatment by optimizing patient-provider 
communication and customizing management of survivor care. Innovations 
could also address follow-up care needs such as medication tracking and 
adherence, health promotion, appointment and symptom tracking. 
Communication across survivor care networks will also be improved by 
utilizing key sources of health data and interoperability standards 
such as Blue Button+ (bluebuttonplus.org). Entries will also be 
assessed on their ability to adapt to the evolving care needs of 
survivors, including the potential for integration with electronic care 
platforms and between members of their care networks (e.g., family, 
friends, and healthcare providers).
    The challenge will consist of two phases. In the first phase, 
entrants will submit wireframes and supporting documentation detailing 
the proposed functionality of their tool or application addressing the 
goals of the challenge. At the end of Phase I eligible entries will be 
judged according to the challenge criteria, with up to three entrants 
being awarded $5,000 each and receiving additional support to optimize 
their application proposal for promotion on a crowdfunding portal as 
they transition to Phase II. The second phase requires the Phase I 
finalists to post relevant details of their tool or application on a 
crowdfunding portal for public feedback and support in developing the 
application. At the end of Phase II the finalists will submit a 
functioning application to be judged for the $25,000 grand prize.

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 Department of Health and Human Services 
(HHS), Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information 
Technology (ONC), and National Cancer Institute (NCI), and Health 2.0;
    (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 and be 18 
years of age or older;
    (4) May not be a federal entity or federal employee acting within 
the scope of their employment;
    (5) Shall not be a HHS employee working on their applications or 
submissions during assigned duty hours;
    (6) Shall not be an employee of ONC or the National Institutes of 
Health (NIH); The immediate family members (spouse, parents and step-
parents, siblings and step-siblings, and children and step-children) 
and household members (people who share the same residence at least 
three (3) months out of the year) of employees of ONC, NIH, the judges, 
or any other company or individual involved with the design, 
production, execution, or distribution of the challenge are not 
eligible to participate.
    (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;
    (9) Each applicant retains title and full ownership in and to their 
submission. Applicant expressly reserves all intellectual property 
rights not expressly granted under this agreement. Applicants must 
agree to irrevocably grant to federal government a non-exclusive, 
royalty free, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide license and right, with 
the right to sublicense, under entrant's intellectual property rights, 
in the event that an entrant wins, to use, reproduce, publicly perform, 
publicly display, and freely distribute the submission provided by such 
entrant (with or without any modifications or derivative works 
thereto), or any portion or feature thereof, for a period of one (1) 
year following the date that the challenge winner is selected.
    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.
    Challenge entrants will be expected to sign a liability release as 
part of the contest registration process and agree to indemnify the 
Federal Government against third party claims. The liability release 
and indemnification agreement will use the following language:

    By participating in this competition, I agree to assume any and all 
risks and waive claims against the federal government and its related 
entities, except in the case of willing 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. By participating in this competition, 
Entrants agree to indemnify the Federal Government against third party 
claims for damages arising from or related to competition activities.

    Based on the subject matter of the competition, the type of work 
that it will possibly require, as well as an analysis of the likelihood 
of any claims for death, bodily injury, or property damage, or loss 
potentially resulting from competition participation, Entrants are not 
required to obtain liability insurance or demonstrate financial 
responsibility in order to participate in this competition.

Registration Process for Participants

    To register for this challenge entrants should either:
     Access the www.challenge.gov Web site and search for the 
Crowds Care for Cancer: Supporting Survivors Challenge; or
     Access the ONC Investing in Innovation (i2) Challenge Web 
site at http://www.health2con.com/devchallenge/challenges/onc-i2-challenges/

Amount of the Prize

    Up to three Phase I finalists will be awarded a monetary cash prize 
totaling $5,000 each, and receive additional support to optimize their 
application proposal for promotion on a crowdfunding portal for Phase 
II. The single grand prize winner will be awarded a monetary cash prize 
totaling $25,000. The applications developed by the finalists and grand 
prize winner will be promoted by NCI and ONC.

[[Page 25450]]

    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 Phase I finalists and Phase II grand prize winner 
will be selected:
    Challenge submissions will be judged by a panel selected by ONC and 
NCI with relevant expertise based on the following criteria:
    1. The submission is an innovative information management tool or 
application deployable on any personal computing platform widely 
available to consumers;
    2. The tool or application addresses the needs of cancer survivors 
managing their transition from specialty to primary care;
    3. Usability and design;
    4. Evidence of co-design with, and support from users of proposed 
tool or application (e.g., patients, families, primary/specialty 
caregivers, insurers, and/or hospital systems);
    5. Innovation and differentiation from existing technologies and 
products;
    6. Functionality, accuracy, integration with electronic care 
platforms, and use of Blue Button+ standards (bluebuttonplus.org) and 
other sources of health-related information; and,
    7. Customizability and ability to adapt to evolving survivorship 
care needs including primary/specialist care interactions.
    In order for an entry to be eligible to win this Challenge, it must 
meet the following requirements:
    1. General--Entrants must provide continuous access to the 
application to judges during the evaluation period, a detailed 
description of the application, instructions on how to install and 
operate the application, and system requirements required to run the 
application (collectively, ``Submission'').
    2. Acceptable platforms--The tool must be designed for use with any 
personal computing platform widely available to the average consumer.
    3. No HHS, ONC, NIH, or NCI logos--The application must not use 
HHS', ONC's, or NCI's logos or official seals in the Submission, and 
must not claim endorsement.
    4. Section 508 Compliance--Entrants must acknowledge that they 
understand that, as a pre-requisite to any subsequent acquisition by 
FAR contract or other method, they may be required to make their 
proposed solution compliant with Section 508 accessibility and 
usability requirements at their own expense. Any electronic information 
technology that is ultimately obtained by HHS for its use, development, 
or maintenance must meet Section 508 accessibility and usability 
standards. Past experience has demonstrated that it can be costly for 
solution-providers to ``retrofit'' solutions if remediation is later 
needed. The HHS Section 508 Evaluation Product Assessment Template, 
available at http://www.hhs.gov/web/508/contracting/technology/vendors.html, provides a useful roadmap for developers to review. It is 
a simple, web-based checklist utilized by HHS officials to allow 
vendors to document how their products do or do not meet the various 
Section 508 requirements.
    5. 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.
    6. Security--Submissions must be free of malware. Entrant agrees 
that the ONC may conduct testing on the application to determine 
whether malware or other security threats may be present. ONC may 
disqualify the application if, in ONC's judgment, the application may 
damage government or others' equipment or operating environment.

Additional Information

Online Resources

    Blue Button: http://www.healthit.gov/bluebutton
    Blue Button+ Implementation Guide: http://bluebuttonplus.org/
    Follow-up Care After Cancer Treatment: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Therapy/followup
    Transitional Care Planning: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/supportivecare/transitionalcare/Patient/page2
    A Tough Transition: Survivorship Care Plans Slow to Take Hold: 
http://www.cancer.gov/ncicancerbulletin/062612/page5
NCI funding announcement on ``Examination of Survivorship Care Planning 
Efficacy and Impact''
    PA-12-274: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-12-274.html
    PA-12-275: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-12-275.html

Intellectual Property

    Ownership of intellectual property is determined by the following:
     Each entrant retains title and full ownership in and to 
their submission. Entrants expressly reserve all intellectual property 
rights not expressly granted under the Challenge agreement.
     By participating in the Challenge, each entrant hereby 
irrevocably grants to ONC and NCI (Sponsors) and Health 2.0 
(Administrator) a limited, non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide 
license and right to reproduce, publically perform, publically display, 
and use the Submission to the extent necessary to administer the 
Challenge, and to publically perform and publically display the 
Submission, including, without limitation, for advertising and 
promotional purposes relating to the Challenge.
    General Conditions: ONC and NCI reserve the right to cancel, 
suspend, and/or modify non-prize elements of the Contest, or any part 
of it, for any reason, at ONC and NCI's discretion. Participation in 
this Contest constitutes an entrant's full and unconditional agreement 
to abide by the Contest's Official Rules found at www.challenge.gov.
    Privacy Policy: ChallengePost collects personal information from 
you when you register on Challenge.gov. The information collected is 
subject to the ChallengePost privacy policy located at 
www.challengepost.com/privacy

    Authority: 15 U.S.C. 3719.

    Dated: April 24, 2013.
Farzad Mostashari,
National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.
[FR Doc. 2013-10192 Filed 4-30-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-45-P