HHS Rewards Health IT Innovation

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT this week announced the winners of its latest innovation challenge, "Ensuring Safe Transitions from Hospital to Home," part of the office's Investing in Innovation (i2) program.

National Coordinator for Health IT Dr. Farzad Mostashari announced the winning teams Wednesday at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' QualityNet Conference, in Baltimore. The challenge, issued in September, focused on the continuum of care from hospitals to next-stage setting--homes, nursing homes and hospices--and innovative ways of reducing the 20 percent rate of hospital readmissions.

The first-place winner, Raleigh, N.C.-based Axial Exchange Inc., receives $25,000 for its winning entry, the Axial Care Transition Suite. The Web-based application relies on tablets, laptops and mobile-phone technology to enable the automatic flow of information from one care setting to the next, enabling patients to assume after-care responsibilities at home.

Receiving $10,000 is second-place winner iBlueButton, part of San Diego-based Humetrix Inc. The company's mobile applications for patient cellphones and physicians' tablet computers offer secure access to online health records and automatic downloads of veterans' personal health records through the Department of Veterans Affairs' Blue Button program. Patients also can "push" records from their device to their provider's tablet or computer.

The third-place winner is VoIDSPAN Technologies of Salem, Mass., which receives $5,000. The company's mobile application uses voice, secure messaging and Web technologies to connect patients at high risk of a medical relapse with providers, case managers and caretakers.