HHS offers $490K to health IT developers who unlock EHI data insights

HHS's Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy, or ASTP, has launched a challenge to encourage health IT developers to build platforms and workflows that translate raw electronic health information, or EHI, into actionable insights that support patient care. Winners of the EHIgnite Challenge will win cash prizes, totaling $490,000 across the challenge's two phases. 

EHI is a subset of electronic protected health information (ePHI) and is essentially defined as all ePHI that would be included in a designated record set. EHI is a broad term that encompasses EHR data as well as other electronic information, such as administrative data -- all subject to information blocking regulations. 

"Since December 2023, health IT developers have been required to export EHI, but 'computable' doesn't always mean 'usable,'" the EHIgnite Challenge website states. "Raw exports are often overwhelming and difficult to integrate." 

What's more, EHI export functionality is a requirement of Certified Health IT, though HHS noted that "exports can be inconsistent and difficult for patients and clinicians to use in real-world workflows." 

As such, ASTP is asking individuals, teams or entities composed of health IT developers, clinicians, patients, data scientists, interoperability experts and patient advocacy groups to develop solutions to improve the readability and usability of single-patient EHI exports. 

Specifically, HHS is seeking interactive patient tools that enable patients to ask questions about their health data and receive sound responses, clinical domain customization capabilities that allow customized queries, integration of exports from multiple care settings and streamlined sharing of information for insurance coverage. 

Phase one of the challenge requires contestants to submit a proposal, design narrative and wireframes by May 13, 2026. Up to nine winners will receive $10,000 each at the end of phase one. Phase one winners will be announced on June 22, 2026, and invited to participate in phase two. 

In phase two, the phase one winners will develop and test their proposed solution for a chance at first, second or third place prizes of $250,000, $100,000 and $30,000, respectively. An additional $20,000 will be awarded to the proposal with the most innovative use of AI. Phase two winners will be announced in April 2027. 

All submissions will be judged by a panel of experts on a 100-point scale, with points awarded for relevance and problem alignment, potential for scaling, ease of use, privacy and security, and use of AI. 

Jill Hughes has covered health tech news since 2021.