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165+ Technology Pioneers Compete to Participate in Innovative Program to Institute Common Platform for Personal Health Records
10-02-06
CONTACT:
Nick Ferreyros (202) 745-5102
Andrea Daitz (609) 627-5937
More than 165 technology pioneers have submitted grant applications to participate in a new Robert Wood Johnson Foundation program aimed at stimulating innovations in personal health information technology. Called Project Health Design: Rethinking the Power and Potential of Personal Health Records, the $4.4 million project will award up to 10 grants. Recipients will work collaboratively to design and test innovative PHR applications that can be built upon a common technology platform.
“The initial response to this program is tremendously exciting and clearly shows that technology designers and health care leaders are eager to harness the power of PHRs to create practical, consumer-oriented tools that will help people live healthier lives,” said Patricia Flatley Brennan, R.N, Ph.D., professor of Nursing and Industrial Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who directs Project HealthDesign.
Program activities will launch in December with grantee teams working closely with patients and caregivers to design personal health applications that address specific health challenges faced by individuals and families. This will lead to a year-long prototype phase where their personal health applications will be tested by end-user populations.
“The strength we’ve seen within the applicant pool is tremendous. Applicants cut across many key segments of health and health care, including major health provider networks, patient groups, academic medical centers, small businesses, research organizations and think tanks,” said Stephen Downs, RWJF senior program officer and deputy director of its Health Group. “Our goal with this project is to attract the best and brightest technology pioneers to design a diverse set of applications that consumers can really use and tailor to their health needs, and it’s great to see such momentum building around this vision among so many leading innovators.”
Grant recipients will be announced in December. Check back at www.projecthealthdesign.org for updates.
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