In this interview, Wil Yu, the special assistant of innovations and research and director of ONC’s SHARP (Strategic Health IT Advanced Research Projects) program, spoke with Government Health IT about the new preponderance of “app challenges.” He talks about how, in addition to their financial support, the challenges provide a lot of non-financial support to the participants that in many ways is as meaningful.
As a current participant in a Design Innovation Challenge, I can vouch for his viewpoint. Our team is getting great mentoring and support in developing our project, along with the camaraderie of working with the other semi-final teams towards a common goal. While not every one of the teams in these challenges is going to be a resounding success, I hope that everyone’s work will at least push the needle towards meeting the IHI Triple Aim of patient-centered care that improves population health at a lower cost.