CHICAGO, Oct. 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- As the first part of a new $1Million Health Innovation Program, Allscripts announced its Open App Challenge live from the floor at Health 2.0 in San Francisco this morning.  The program challenges developers and vendors to "Start a Revolution" by creating and integrating applications that become an extension of Allscripts Open Electronic Health Records software.  The goal is to make it easier for providers to add new apps to their workflow to improve patient outcomes in a measurable way. The program will feature awards for apps focused on the management of high cost chronic diseases and value-based care imperatives.

The contest offers $750,000 in total awards, with the overall winner taking home $250,000.

Allscripts created the Open App Challenge as a result of its commitment to creating a true Connected Community of Health™, leveraging the collective power of emerging innovations to create powerful new solutions that help solve some of the toughest problems in healthcare. This program highlights Allscripts Platform for Innovation. The program is unique because it awards innovation with an emphasis on real solutions being deployed that have a measurable impact on care and outcomes.

"We want the smartest people, whether physicians, nurses, caregivers or IT professionals inside and outside the industry to use their creative energy to solve real problems in healthcare. We intend to inspire developers to start a revolution by pushing the boundaries of what information technology can do to improve quality of care for patients and also keep them healthy in the first place," said Glen Tullman, Chief Executive Officer of Allscripts.

"The award stakes are high for the winners, but so are the stakes for better patient outcomes. By combining Allscripts open architecture with innovative applications we can truly transform the healthcare technology industry," added Stanley Crane, Allscripts Chief Innovation Officer.

Challenge Details

The challenge will occur in two phases. The first phase (Start A Revolution) is focused on encouraging development of apps in each of the contest categories to the point where they are able to be demonstrated.  In this phase Allscripts will honor 15 developers with awards of $10,000 each for outstanding solutions in each category. The second phase (Outstanding Outcomes) is the grand prize phase that will encourage participants to finalize, test and install their apps in Allscripts client sites to demonstrate the most quantifiable value to healthcare providers.  

Solutions will be recognized in the following categories:

• Applications that improve management of high cost chronic diseases.  This challenge will give priority to an application that helps reduce costs and/or improve outcomes for the following high cost chronic diseases: heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, stroke, pulmonary conditions (asthma/COPD), cancer and depression. 
• Innovative approaches to addressing value-based care imperatives:  This category will give priority to innovation that provides clients with new tools they can use to make the transition to value-based care; for example, reduced 30-day readmission rates; improved transitions of care; delivering evidence-based guidelines to the point of care; enhanced patient engagement (i.e. remote monitoring, self-management, healthy lifestyles); personalized medicine and/or population health analytics.

First round entries will be judged based on recorded demonstrations and supporting materials due February 3, 2013. Allscripts will announce winners at HIMSS 2013, March 3-7 in New Orleans.

In phase two of the challenge, Allscripts will award $250,000 for the application that demonstrates the most positive clinical, financial or performance improvement results after deployment at a client site. Two runner-ups each receive $100,000; another two runner-ups each receive $75,000. Second-round submissions are due July 14, 2013.

Allscripts will announce the final winners at the Allscripts Client Experience (ACE) in Chicago, August 21-23, 2013. Second-round contestants must be accepted into Allscripts Developer Program before submitting their application. Winning solutions must demonstrate integration with the Allscripts Sunrise Clinical Manager™, Allscripts Enterprise Electronic Health Record™ (EHR) or Allscripts Professional™ EHR.

To learn more about the challenge, read the official rules, or register to participate, click here.

About Allscripts Developer Program (ADP)

The Allscripts Developer Program enables outside developers to build innovations for clients and get them tested and certified to run on Allscripts Electronic Health Records. For example, MyCareTeam created an app where diabetic patients can transmit their blood glucose readings directly from their glucose meters into an Allscripts Electronic Health Record, as well as track their progress on diet and exercise, so caregivers can easily monitor a patient's progress against the treatment plan, and patients feel more engaged in their own health.

About Allscripts

Allscripts (NASDAQ: MDRX) delivers the insights that healthcare providers require to generate world-class outcomes. The company's Electronic Health Record, practice management and other clinical, revenue cycle, connectivity and information solutions create a Connected Community of Health™ for physicians, hospitals and post-acute organizations.  To learn more about Allscripts, please visit www.allscripts.com, Twitter, YouTube and It Takes A Community: The Allscripts Blog.

About Health 2.0

Health 2.0--The conference. The media network. The Innovation Community. The Health 2.0 Conference is the leading showcase of cutting-edge technologies in health care, including Online Communities, Search and lightweight Tools for consumers to manage their health and connect to providers online. The Health 2.0 Developer Challenge is a series of prize competitions promoting health technology innovation. Health 2.0 also has its own media channels, Health 2.0 News and Health 2.0 TV; its own market intelligence service, Health 2.0 Advisors; and also sponsors the Health 2.0 Accelerator industry consortium. Health 2.0 was founded by Indu Subaiya & Matthew Holt in 2007 and is now a community of hundreds of organizations and thousands of innovators.  For more information, see www.health2con.com.

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SOURCE Allscripts

Investors, Seth Frank, +1-312-506-1213, seth.frank@allscripts.com, or Media, Ariana Nikitas, +1-312-506-1236, ariana.nikitas@allscripts.com, or Claire Weingarden, +1-312-447-2442, claire.weingarden@allscripts.com