Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Aligning Forces Challenge

Challenge Background

UPDATE: The deadline for Phase I submissions has been extended to January 5, 2012.

Note: In addition to the provided data, teams are allowed to incorporate (or "mash-up") data from other sources, both public and proprietary. When integrating data sources, teams must comply with each set’s licensing and utilization requirements. Data can be read from a public site or it can be provided in more optimal format and hosted at a different location.

Aligning Forces Webinar Video 11.04.11

Aligning Forces For Quality (AF4Q) is the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) signature effort to lift the overall quality of health care in targeted communities, reduce racial and ethnic disparities and provide models for national reform. Aligning Forces asks the people who get care, give care and pay for care to work together toward common, fundamental objectives to lead to better care. The $300 million commitment to improve health care in 16 communities that together cover 12% percent of the U.S. population is the largest effort of its kind ever undertaken by a U.S. philanthropy.

The premise of Aligning Forces is that no single person, group or profession can improve health and health care throughout a community without support of others. Aligning Forces asks these critical stakeholders to work toward common, fundamental objectives that RWJF and others believe will lead to better care. For example, we believe that measuring and reporting on health care, if done right, can 1) help providers improve their own ability to deliver quality care; 2) help providers measure and publicly report their performance; and 3) help patients and consumers understand their vital role in recognizing and demanding high-quality care.

RWJF launched the first phase of Aligning Forces for Quality in 2006 as an effort to help communities build health care systems where none existed. Right now, while pockets of excellent health care exist across the country, most health care markets function as fragmented sectors, with different entities often working within their own silos. The first phase of Aligning Forces provided community leadership teams with grants and substantial expert assistance to help them work with physicians to improve quality of care, to measure and publicly report on the quality of ambulatory care, and to engage consumers to make informed choices about their own health and health care. The program expanded in June 2008 to include inpatient care, as well as a focus on reducing racial and ethnic gaps in care and enhancing the central role that nursing plays in good health care.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is the nation's largest philanthropy devoted solely to the public's health. RWJF supports programs in the areas of: obesity, health coverage, human capital, health pioneering, public health, health care quality and equality, and vulnerable populations. The mission of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is to improve the health and health care of all Americans. Our goal is clear: To help our society transform itself for the better.

Challenge Description

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Aligning Forces Challenge will be the most ambitious project undertaken to date in the history of the Health 2.0 Developer Challenge. The goals of the Challenge are:

  • Develop an application that helps patients access better health care using publicly available inpatient and outpatient measures of health care quality from the Aligning Forces program.
  • The application should walk patients through the decision making process for accessing inpatient and outpatient health resources in much the same way that TurboTax guides users through the process of submitting a tax filing.
  • Data from the Challenge will come from Aligning Forces program sites and may include measures related to diabetes outcomes, antibiotic use, cancer screening, child health care, prevention, and others.

Evaluation Criteria

Key evaluation for judging will include:

  • Potential impact to improve the quality of care for application users
  • Effective integration of data from Aligning Forces sources into the application
  • Design, usability and intuitiveness of application
  • Creativity and innovation
  • Ability to demonstrate real world impact (Phase 2)

Submission Criteria

  • Teams must register for the challenge to gain access to the available datasets. Upon registration Health 2.0 will follow up with each team individually to vet the participants and provide an overview of available data resources.
  • In addition to the provided data, teams are allowed to incorporate (or "mash-up") data from other sources, both public and proprietary. When integrating data sources, teams must comply with each set’s licensing and utilization requirements. Data can be read from a public site or it can be provided in more optimal format and hosted at a different location.
  • A registration button and related link for the challenge can be found at the top of the right hand column of this page. Teams are asked to register to help Health 2.0 and the challenge sponsor anticipate resources needed to manage the project.
  • Registered teams may receive updates from Health 2.0 and the Sponsor during the submission period that provide useful information with regards to the competition.
  • There are no additional forms or steps required after submission of the registration form. Instructions on how to submit an entry will be sent prior to the close of the submission deadline. Teams are not bound or limited by the proposal description submitted in the registration form and may update or modify their projects as needed prior to final submission.

Timeline

  • Phase I Submission Period Begins: October 28, 2011
  • Phase I Submission Period for Entries Ends: January 5, 2012
  • Phase II Development Period Begins: Early January, 2012
  • Phase II Development Period for Entries Ends: Late April, 2012
  • Winner Announced: HDI Successor Day, June 2012

Terms & Conditions

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