[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 166 (Tuesday, August 27, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52921-52923]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-20790]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES


Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information 
Technology; Announcement of Requirements and Registration for 
``Behavioral Health Patient Empowerment 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: Behavioral health disorders are common in the United States. 
Approximately 20% of adults and 13% of adolescents suffer from mental 
disorders each year and 8.7% of Americans aged 12 and older experience 
substance dependence or abuse each year.1 2 Rates of mental 
health problems are significantly higher for patients with chronic 
conditions such as diabetes, asthma, and heart conditions \3\ and 
failure to treat both physical and mental health conditions results in 
poorer health outcomes and higher health care costs.\3\ Yet despite the 
high personal and societal burden of these disorders fewer than half of 
adults and only one-third of children with mental disorders and only 11 
percent of individuals with substance use disorders receive 
treatment.1 2 For many individuals this results from limited 
access to care, for others it is a result of reservations about 
accessing specialty care.
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    \1\ 2010-2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, http://www.samhsa.gov/data/nsduh/2k10nsduh/2k10results.htm.
    \2\ Results from the 2010 NSDUH: Mental Health Findings: http://www.samhsa.gov/data/nsduh/2k10MH_Findings/2k10MHResults.htm.
    \3\ http://www.cdc.gov/Features/MentalHealthSurveillance/.
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    Health IT has significant potential to enable self management of 
behavioral health disorders (including both mental health and substance 
use disorders) as well as to act as a treatment extender for patients 
with limited access to care. On September 16th Office of the National 
Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), in partnership 
with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration 
(SAMHSA), Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), and National 
Institutes of Health (NIH) is organizing a Technology Innovations for 
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Disorders Conference taking place at 
the White House. This conference will highlight how technology can be 
used to improve treatment for behavioral health disorders. In 
conjunction with this

[[Page 52922]]

conference ONC is issuing this Behavioral Health Patient Empowerment 
Challenge to identify and highlight existing technologies that empower 
consumers to manage their mental health and/or substance use disorders.
    The statutory authority for this challenge competition is Section 
105 of the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-
358).

DATES: Submission period begins: August 21, 2013.
    Submission period ends: September 3, 2013.
    Winners announced: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Disorders 
Conference, White House, September 16, 2013.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Adam Wong, 202-720-2866.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Subject of Challenge Competition

    The Behavioral Health Patient Empowerment Challenge is a call for 
developers to showcase technologies that empower consumers to manage 
their mental health and/or substance use disorders. The intent of the 
challenge is to identify and highlight existing innovative technologies 
that use evidence based strategies to empower consumer self-management 
of behavioral health disorders.
    The application submitted must be available for use by consumers on 
a widely-used platform for mobile devices by the submission end date of 
September 3.
    To be eligible to receive a prize, Solvers must submit:
    (1) The functioning application, or directions to access it,
    (2) an overview, of no more than 500 words, that

a. provides an overview of the target population for the tool and the 
evidence base supporting the functionality included for addressing the 
needs of the target population
b. discusses how the target population can use this technology to 
better manage their symptoms or their recovery process
c. discusses how the application is designed to keep the user engaged 
over time to promote consistent use
d. describes the application's existing ability to be integrated with 
EHR/PHRs or other tools

    (3) a 5 minute-maximum video demonstration of the tool.

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 party claims for damages arising from or related to 
competition activities.

Registration Process for Participants

    To register for this Challenge, participants can access http://www.challenge.gov and search for ``Behavioral Health Patient 
Empowerment Challenge.''

Prize

    The top three finishers will be invited to the event taking place 
at the White House, and the winner will be able to demo it there. 
Travel funding is not available, so if the winner cannot attend in 
person the video demonstration of the winning technology will be played 
during the conference.
    The top three technologies will be highlighted on a behavioral 
health technology innovations Web site which is being developed by the 
National Institutes of Health (NIH) in conjunction with this 
conference.

Payment of the Prize

    No monetary prize is provided for this challenge.

Basis Upon Which Winner Will Be Selected

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

Evidence base for the functionality included in the application
Application usability, including intuitiveness, capacity to engage the 
user, and user interface
Comprehensiveness of the technology for addressing the behavioral 
health needs of the target population
Existing ability to be integrated with EHR/PHRs or other tools

    In order for an entry to be eligible to win this Challenge, it must 
meet the following requirements:
    General--Contestants must provide continuous access to the tool, a 
detailed description of the tool, instructions on how to install and 
operate the tool, and system requirements required to run the tool 
(collectively, ``Submission'').
    Acceptable platforms--The tool must be designed for use on a 
widely-used platform for mobile devices; this includes web optimization 
for mobile devices.
    Section 508 Compliance--Contestants 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/

[[Page 52923]]

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.
    No HHS, ONC, or other federal government logo--The app must not use 
HHS', ONC's, or any other federal government agency's logos or official 
seals in the Submission, and must not claim endorsement.
    Functionality/Accuracy--A Submission may be disqualified if the 
software application fails to function as expressed in the description 
provided by the user, or if the software application provides 
inaccurate or incomplete information.
    Security--Submissions must be free of malware. Contestant agrees 
that 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.

Additional Information

    General Conditions: ONC reserves the right to cancel, suspend, and/
or modify the Contest, or any part of it, for any reason, at ONC's sole 
discretion. Participation in this Contest constitutes a contestant'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.
    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 Sponsor and 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.

    Authority:  15 U.S.C. 3719.

    Dated: August 19, 2013.
David Muntz,
Principal Deputy National Coordinator for Health Information 
Technology.
[FR Doc. 2013-20790 Filed 8-26-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-45-P