As the first part of a new $1 million Health Innovation Program, Allscripts announced its Open App Challenge Oct. 8 at Health 2.0 in San Francisco. The program challenges developers and vendors to "Start a Revolution" by creating and integrating applications that become an extension of Allscripts' Open Electronic Health Records software.

The goal is to make it easier for providers to add new apps to their workflow to improve patient outcomes in a measurable way, Allscripts executives said. The program will feature awards for apps focused on the management of high-cost chronic diseases and value-based care imperatives.

The contest offers $750,000 in total awards, with the overall winner taking home $250,000.

Allscripts created the Open App Challenge as a result of its commitment to creating a true Connected Community of Health, leveraging the collective power of emerging innovations to create powerful new solutions that help solve some of the toughest problems in healthcare. This program highlights Allscripts Platform for Innovation. The program is unique, officials say, because it awards innovation with an emphasis on real solutions being deployed that have a measurable impact on care and outcomes.

“We want the smartest people, whether physicians, nurses, caregivers or IT professionals inside and outside the industry to use their creative energy to solve real problems in healthcare,” said Allscripts CEO Glen Tullman. “We intend to inspire developers to start a revolution by pushing the boundaries of what information technology can do to improve quality of care for patients and also keep them healthy in the first place. The award stakes are high for the winners, but so are the stakes for better patient outcomes.

“By combining Allscripts open architecture with innovative applications we can truly transform the healthcare technology industry," added Stanley Crane, Allscripts’ chief innovation officer.

Challenge details
The challenge will occur in two phases. The first phase (Start a Revolution) is focused on encouraging development of apps in each of the contest categories to the point where they can be demonstrated. In this phase Allscripts will honor 15 developers with awards of $10,000 each for outstanding solutions in each category.

The second phase (Outstanding Outcomes) is the grand prize stage, which will see participants finalizing, testing and installing their apps in Allscripts client sites to demonstrate the most quantifiable value to healthcare providers. Solutions will be recognized in the following categories:

• Applications that improve management of high-cost chronic diseases. This challenge will give priority to an application that helps reduce costs and/or improve outcomes for the following high cost chronic diseases: heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, stroke, pulmonary conditions (asthma/COPD), cancer and depression.
• Innovative approaches to addressing value-based care imperatives: This category will give priority to innovation that provides clients with new tools they can use to make the transition to value-based care; for example, reduced 30-day readmission rates; improved transitions of care; delivering evidence-based guidelines to the point of care; enhanced patient engagement (i.e. remote monitoring, self-management, healthy lifestyles); personalized medicine and/or population health analytics.
• First round entries will be judged based on recorded demonstrations and supporting materials due Feb. 3, 2013. Allscripts will announce winners at HIMSS 2013, March 3-7 in New Orleans.
• In Phase 2 of the challenge, Allscripts will award $250,000 for the application that demonstrates the most positive clinical, financial or performance improvement results after deployment at a client site.
• Two runner-ups each receive $100,000; another two runner-ups each receive $75,000. Second-round submissions are due July 14, 2013.

Allscripts will announce the final winners at the Allscripts Client Experience (ACE) in Chicago, August 21-23, 2013. Second-round contestants must be accepted into Allscripts Developer Program before submitting their application. Winning solutions must demonstrate integration with the Allscripts Sunrise Clinical Manager, Allscripts Enterprise Electronic Health Record or Allscripts Professional EHR.

To learn more about the challenge, read the official rules, or register to participate, click here.