Host an Award

WHY YOU SHOULD PARTICIPATE

When it comes to solving challenging problems, we believe we can go farther, faster, with friends. By adding a Patient Safety Technology Award/Prize to your existing competition, you can help to make progress on the persistent problem of medical error. This Challenge will provoke your applicants to think about a complex problem that has been plaguing our healthcare system for decades and that has worsened during the pandemic.

The Challenge can help foster innovation where the winning solutions can deliver long-lasting social good. Other complex, high-risk industries deploy available technologies, predictive analytics, and sophisticated detection systems to anticipate and prevent harm before it occurs. Health care has been a laggard and patient safety continues to be an underrepresented issue within the tech sector. You can help to change this.

In addition to the financial awards associated with the Challenge, winners also will benefit from the existing downstream support networks – such as incubators and accelerators – that exist within your local community for innovators.

What. Are. You. Waiting. For.?

Benefits, Expectations, and Proposal Information for
Prospective Competitions & Events

BENEFITS for Participating Organizations

To support organizations in adding patient safety awards into their hackathon, ideathon, startup weekend, or competition, the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative (PRHI) can provide:

FUNDING: PRHI has a total of $325,000 available to enable organizations to add patient safety awards into their competitions, hackathons, and events. PRHI prioritizes funding projects at $10k or less. Proposals above that amount may be considered under special circumstances.

JUDGING: PRHI can identify patient safety experts and activists to serve as judges if requested.

TOOLKIT: PRHI will provide a toolkit to help the competitions add a patient safety award category to their event, with messaging, graphics, sample criteria, application questions, judging rubrics, and survey questions to assess the participants’ awareness of patient safety.

PROMOTION: PRHI will list the participating competitions (with their logos) on the Patient Safety Technology Challenge’s website and social media channels to raise awareness of the competition. 

DOCUMENTARY: PRHI is creating a documentary to bring visibility to the problem of medical errors and create a positive vision for the future by featuring the winning ideas from the competitions.

EXPECTATIONS of Participating Organizations

The organizations that PRHI selects to receive funding to incorporate a patient safety award into their competition or event agree to:

CREATE A PATIENT SAFETY AWARD for a BIG IDEA: Patient Safety Technology Award in response to the following problem categories: medication-related errors, medical complications with patient care, procedure/surgery-related errors, infections, and/or diagnostic errors.

Big Idea Patient Safety Technology Award

Applicants will be challenged to develop a fully formed idea for a technology-enabled solution to address one of the five major sources of harm along the continuum of care. Other complex, high-risk industries deploy available technologies, predictive analytics, and sophisticated detection systems to anticipate and prevent harm before it occurs. The future safety of patients requires an autonomous safety net, reducing the burden on a rapidly diminishing clinical frontline. This safety net must be conceived before it becomes a reality.

CONNECT THE WINNERS TO SUPPORT NETWORKS in the local academic and entrepreneurial enterprise to help them further develop their ideas.

SHARE DATA & INFORMATION with PRHI about the applicants and winners who submitted ideas for the patient safety awards, including:

  • the number of applicants with information about their demographics and university/college;

  • the patient safety problems the applicants used in their submissions;

  • a description of their technology-enabled ideas and whether the ideas used ML, AI, or robotics;

  • a profile of the winning idea(s) and team(s) to promote through the Patient Safety Technology Challenge; and

  • responses to the pre- and post-survey questions about applicants’ awareness of patient safety.

APPLY TO PARTICIPATE

To apply for funding under the Patient Safety Technology Challenge, please fill out and submit the form below. If you have existing materials that provide this information, you can submit them in the form below or send the materials directly to Ariana Longley at Longley@prhi.org and skip the related questions.