HHS Announces National Competition to Spark Innovation that Will Improve Patient Access to Primary Care

Open up to wide general public participation with a total of $1 million in cash prizes for up to 30 winners

Right now, the U.S. Section of Health and Human Products and services (HHS), as a result of the Health and fitness Assets and Services Administration (HRSA), announced the start of the Building Bridges to Far better Overall health: A Principal Well being Treatment Obstacle, a national competition with a complete of $1 million in dollars prizes to really encourage innovation as a result of technological help to wellbeing centers.

Competitiveness members will speed up the development of low-price, scalable options to help HRSA-supported group health facilities strengthen client entry to major care and strengthen the link concerning health care and social providers. It is element of an ongoing effort of the Biden-Harris Administration to address social determinants of well being and advance well being equity.

“It can take all of us functioning alongside one another to come across revolutionary options that can assist strengthen the situations that impact people’s wellness and nicely-being,” stated HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “At HHS, we are dedicated to addressing health and fitness disparities and breaking down limitations to treatment. Before this spring we launched our complete-of-government approach to deal with social determinants of well being, and now we search ahead to partnering with innovators throughout the state to put into action the very best and brightest thoughts to make health and fitness care more equitable for all.”

“With today’s announcement, we are inquiring innovators to be a part of us in the perform to make improvements to health outcomes in traditionally underserved communities,” stated HRSA Administrator Carole Johnson. “We glance ahead to the imaginative and novel tips the local community will provide to the desk as we perform jointly to boost health and fitness equity and raise entry to wellbeing treatment and social companies.” 

HRSA’s Overall health Middle Program money around 1,400 wellness facilities in communities throughout the country to give substantial high-quality, detailed principal and preventive health care for the nation’s underserved people today and family members, like folks experiencing homelessness, agricultural staff, and inhabitants of community housing. Just about 62{b574a629d83ad7698d9c0ca2d3a10ad895e8e51aa97c347fc42e9508f0e4325d} of overall health centre individuals are racial and ethnic minorities. In 2020, HRSA-funded wellbeing centers delivered treatment for 1 out of 11 individuals in the United States and its territories, 1 in 3 people living in poverty, 1 in 6 people who are uninsured, and 1 in 5 citizens in rural regions.

This competition is a collaboration with a wide assortment of public companions, with aims to make improvements to overall health results by escalating linkages among group-primarily based main treatment and crucial neighborhood supports like transportation, food stuff, and housing. Social determinants of well being (SDOH) refer to the environmental situations in which people are born, develop, are living, get the job done, and age—such as money, schooling, work, housing, social assistance, and transportation—that impression health treatment. SDOH are recognized as possessing profound consequences on health and fitness outcomes and add to wellbeing disparities and inequities.

Advancing racial fairness and supporting underserved communities is a central priority of the Biden-Harris Administration. Before this spring, HHS released an overview of the Federal Social Determinants of Wellbeing System and Motion Plan — a entire-of-federal government, multi-sector tactic to advance wellness equity and handle the fundamental systemic and environmental things that have an affect on health standing.

The federal govt supports prize competitions to interact innovators and crank out inventive strategies to address complications. HRSA is applying prize competitions to spur new suggestions, methods, and partnerships to increase health and fitness treatment entry and improve overall health equity.

The level of competition is open to wide community participation, which include people, teams, overall health treatment companies, and other entities. A overall of $1 million in hard cash prizes will be awarded above 3 phases, which incorporate strategy style and design (Section 1) prototype development and testing (Period 2) and scaling of the approach (Section 3). Period 1 submissions are thanks August 2, 2022. Period 1 will include original awards totaling $300,000 for up to 30 winners.

Take a look at Obstacle.gov for a lot more information about Creating Bridges to Better Health: A Key Wellness Care Challenge, including submission specifications, eligibility, deadlines, opposition principles, judging standards, prize quantities, how to submit a proposal, and how to register for a webinar for prospective participants.