Hackathons are certainly not new affairs, but it’s interesting to see the verve with which the healthcare industry have taken to the format.  I’ll be attending the latest NHS Hack Day in Leeds later on this month to see the kind of projects that are worked on and the buzz that is generated between developers and health professionals during the weekend.

Before then however an even higher profile hack day will take place at Stanford University.  From the 19th to the 21st September innovators will descend on the campus for the Intel-GE Care Innovations Hackathon event, with the aim being to create more effective and reliable connections between patients, clinicians and the information that can make healthcare better.

In addition to the standard developer type activities, the event will also feature a keynote address by Dr Jacob Reider from Health Information Technology and Dr Lyle Berkowitz, the Associate Chief Medical Officer of Innovation at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

The event hopes to reduce the divide that currently exists between patients and their healthcare provider, and thus enhance the improvement possibilities, both in terms of cost and quality of care.  The organizations believe that it will be these connections that drive the kind of lasting change the industry needs.

The hackathon will bring together entrepreneurs, physicians, designers, developers, and scientists over two days to develop and thrash out ideas.

“The participation of two forward-thinking, innovative groups like MIT Hacking Medicine and StartX signifies the immense opportunity and necessity of revolutionizing patient engagement, undoubtedly one of healthcare’s biggest pain points,” said Sean Slovenski, Chief Executive Officer at Intel-GE Care Innovations. “I am confident the hackathon will spark disruptive, tangible ideas because of the fresh, diverse perspectives we’re bringing together. There’s a lot of passion, and we know collaboration – across a wide spectrum – is the only way we, as a nation, can make meaningful progress in creating the next generation of solutions.”

The event itself is divided into two core categories.  The first will be focused around driving, educating and motivating changes in patient behaviour in areas where they traditionally struggle.  The second strand will target the development of tangible solutions to securing reliable health and behaviour data from the patients home.

All of the ideas generated at the event will form the basis of (hopefully) better connections between providers, payers, caregivers and consumers.  If you’d like to get involved in the event, you can do so via the CI Patient Engagement Hackfest website at the address below.

http://www.cihackfest.com/apply/