Dean Riggott Photography
Surescripts
$25,000 Prize Offered for Best Technology Solution Utilizing Medication History Data to Improve Medication Adherence
Washington, D.C. – June 2, 2014 – Surescripts, the nation's largest health information network, today kicked off its $25,000 Adherence Challenge: Closing Gaps in Data and Care at the Health Datapalooza event in Washington, D.C. The goal of the Adherence Challenge is to develop a technology solution that leverages medication history data to identify gaps in care and create actionable intelligence for use in treating patients at risk of harm from poor medication adherence. Poor adherence to medications is responsible for more than 125,000 deaths and 30 to 50 percent of treatment failures each year, at an estimated cost of $100 billion to $289 billion, according to a report published in Annals of Internal Medicine.
“We are excited to leverage our network to improve public health while at the same time, recognizing the accomplishments of women in the fields of science and technology,” said Paul Uhrig, Acting CEO of Surescripts. “The Adherence Challenge is just one way we are working together across the industry to get the right information to the right place at the right time, to improve the nation’s healthcare system by making it more efficient, more effective and easier to navigate.”
Surescripts will make the winning application available to the public in order to arm researchers, public health officials and health care providers with a powerful tool to address medication adherence. To encourage the progress of women in science and technology fields, Surescripts is seeking women-led teams such as FluFender, the winning team in last year’s Tracking Influenza in Real Time Challenge.
“I was blown away by the FluFender team’s win. It embodies what we’re about here – creativity, ingenuity, and excitement about building new things and solving big problems in healthcare. [FluFender team captains] Kathleen and Erin are among our very best leaders – they have a special style and approach that translates into great outcomes in complex, technical projects,” explained Sean Carroll, CEO of Arcadia Healthcare Solutions.
While the competition is open to women and women-led teams, men are welcome to be part of these teams. The deadline for submissions is July 22, 2014. Finalists will present their concepts in person in Washington, D.C. on February 18, 2015 with the winner named that same day.
In 2013, Surescripts routed more than 6 billion transactions nationwide, including one billion electronic prescriptions, representing a majority (58 percent) of all eligible prescriptions in the United States, and nearly 700 million electronic medication history records, covering two-thirds of the U.S. population. Surescripts has the infrastructure, data network, patient and provider directories, and experience in developing standards to ensure that the nation’s healthcare system is connected and interoperable.
More information on the Adherence Challenge can be found at www.surescripts.com/challenge.