Photo credit: Flickr user A Health Blog

Dwayne Spradlin is CEO of Health Data Consortium, a collaboration between government, nonprofits and private sector groups working to put open health data to good use. The consortium is one of four organizations working with Knight Foundation on Knight News Challenge: Health. Below, Spradlin writes about the contest and opportunities emerging in the field. Related Links 

“Knight News Challenge on Health opens for entries“

“Knight News Challenge: Health opens with inspiration phase, additional prizes from collaborators” by Raina Kumra and John Bracken

“Announcing key collaborators and details of Knight News Challenge: Health” by John Bracken and Chris Barr

“Join us to brainstorm ideas around News Challenge: Health” by Chris Sopher  

“Data: Why we care” by Esther Dyson

“News Challenge: Make APIs not apps, health CEO says” by Lucky Gunasekara

“Robert Wood Johnson Foundation announces new prize for News Challenge: Health” by Paul Tarini

“California HealthCare Foundation: The data stops here” by Andy Krackov

“Pizza tracker versus patient tracker” by M. Bridget Duffy

At Health Data Consortium we see health data as an unbelievably powerful tool to drive new insights and to inform patients, doctors and policymakers. It inspires new approaches, accelerates disease cures and improves quality of life. It is fundamental to improving our system. Our goals? Better health, health care, affordability and accessibility for everyone. Our programs and events, like the Health Datapalooza, are building a community of entrepreneurs, data scientists, health practitioners and institutions focused on improving health and care through better use of health data.

We are huge fans of competitions, hack-a-thons and other means of catalyzing new approaches and original thinking, so we are excited to be a partner in Knight News Challenge: Health. Knight Foundation brings a real heritage in the use of competitions, funding more than a dozen open contests since 2007. They have selected 400-plus winners from almost 25,000 entries and granted more than $75 million. That represents less than 20 percent of their grant-making. Coupled with the reach, resources and experience of the other partners—Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, California HealthCare Foundation and the Clinton Health Matters Initiative—this program promises to be exciting and impactful.

Much thought went into the initial question: “How can we harness data and public information for the health of communities?” Make no mistake, real patient care happens locally and this is where we can impact the health of our family, friends and the people we meet in the local Starbucks. We hope you all will see this challenge as provocative and personal for that reason. We want you to be inspired and unconstrained by the system today. We want you to truly reimagine how information can be put to work for your communities.

A few examples to spark the imagination:

• Where are the disparities in care, outcome and access in our communities?
• How can we all be sensors, contributing the data and clues needed to monitor and improve the health of neighborhoods and cities in real time?
• What does the data tell us about where and how resources can be made better available to meet the needs of the most vulnerable in our communities?
• How can we provide relevant heath information locally to truly improve health, wellness, activity, access and choices?

These could become new civic programs, smart phone applications or even business models. We care about the ideas and how to put them to work.

By separating the challenge into multiple phases, we believe that you will help us get the questions right, and then we ask you all to go to work on solutions.

So to recap the details:

• The Knight News Challenge: Health will focus on the question: “How can we harness data and public information for the health of communities?
• The “Inspiration” Phase: Launches on Aug. 19 when we ask everyone—from health entrepreneurs to journalists to community groups and residents—to share the opportunities and challenges they’re facing in their work and lives, which data and public information might help address. Those inspirations will inform the contest and help guide our review of submissions. We’ll also begin holding in-person events across the country, so stay tuned for more details.  
• The “Formal Submissions” Phase: We’ll accept submissions to the News Challenge: Health from Sept. 3 to Sept. 17. Anyone in the United States or abroad, from an individual to a nonprofit to a company, may apply with an idea that touches on the challenge question. All entries received during that period will receive consideration to win a share of more than $2 million. You can find more details about applying, and the contest rules, here.

So we look forward to all the amazing new ideas and approaches that you will bring to the table. The stakes are high, and we all have much work to do if we are going to improve health and health care in America. There is no better place to start than improving health in our communities, which is where the real work of health care happens.

So be brilliant. Think big—and local. Let’s go innovate!

Dwayne Spradlin, CEO, Health Data Consortium

Related links: “Join us to brainstorm around News Challenge: Health,” “Announcing key collaborators and details of Knight News Challenge: Health”  and “News Challenge: Make APIs not apps, health CEO says” on KnightBlog.