The Greater Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies (PACT) is a leading resource for emerging growth companies in the information technology, clean technology, and life sciences industries.
The PACT Healthcare App Challenge is part of a two-competition series aiming to connect the best developers with forward thinking Philadelphia enterprises, and to help create new viable businesses benefiting healthcare, higher education, and government.
This year, PACT has partnered with Independence Blue Cross (IBC) and the University of Pennsylvania to provide two unique opportunities for developers covering the topics of healthcare and wayfinding. Finalists from each competition will be invited to present their entry publicly during a live judging event on June 29th, 2015.
Current State
Diabetes is a major cause of direct medical costs and indirect costs in our health care system and society. The American Diabetes Association estimates total costs of diagnosed diabetes have risen to $245 billion in 2012 from $174 billion in 2007. People with diagnosed diabetes, on average, have medical expenditures approximately 2.3 times higher than what expenditures would be in the absence of diabetes.
Now you have a chance to help chronically ill diabetes patients lower medical costs through proactive condition management, such as improving their health behaviors (i.e. medication adherence, diet, exercise, etc.). Have a healthcare app that fits the bill? Let’s see it!
To get started on the PACT Healthcare App Challenge, check out the requirements section below and the Resources page.
Eligibility
This challenge is open to:
- Individuals who have reached the age of majority in their jurisdiction of residence at the time of entry (in the United States, the age of majority is 18); Teams of eligible individuals; Organizations (up to 50 employees)
- Organizations with over 50 employees may compete for the non-cash Large Organization Recognition Awards.
- Employees of Independence Blue Cross and its affiliated partners are not eligible. Please see full rules for details.
Requirements
What to Create: Submitted applications must be consumer facing and must focus on helping chronically ill diabetes patients lower medical costs through proactive condition management, such as improving their health behaviors (i.e. medication adherence, diet, exercise, etc.). Applications may use one or more of the NHANES datasets provided (optional). Applications should account for sustained usage and caregiver support in their design.
Eligible Platforms:
- Smartphone or tablet (iOS, Android, Blackberry, Kindle, Windows Phone)
- Web (mobile or desktop) [Mobile enabled is preferred.]
- Desktop (Windows PC, Mac Desktop)
- Software running on other hardware (including, but not exclusive to, wearable technology, open source hardware, custom hardware, etc.)
Supplemental Material: You must submit a demo video (hosted on YouTube, Vimeo, or Youku) that walks through the main functionality of the solution via screencast or video. You must also submit at least one image/screenshot of your working solution.
New & Existing Solutions: Apps may be newly created or pre-existing. If the submitted app existed prior to the competition’s submission start date, it must have been updated, during the submission period, to include new features/functionalities specifically aiming to help chronically ill diabetes patients lower medical costs through proactive condition management.
Testing: You must make your app available for testing by providing a link to access your installation file, an uploaded installation file, a TestFlight build, etc. See full testing access options.
Prizes
$47,500 in prizes
Finalist
(4)
Invitation to present submission during judging event (in person or virtually)
First Prize
- $30,000 cash.
- Direct access via scheduled meetings and/or calls to representatives from Independence Blue Cross, direct access to a VC, and direct access to a local entrepreneur.
- An opportunity to present their business plan to group of VCs and angels.
Second Prize
- $10,000 cash.
- Direct access via scheduled meetings and/or calls to representatives from Independence Blue Cross, direct access to a VC, and direct access to a local entrepreneur.
- An opportunity to present their business plan to group of VCs and angels.
Validic API Award
$5,000 in Validic API Credits. To be awarded at the discretion of the judges based on the extent of integration and usage of the Validic API.
Popular Choice Award
- $2,500 cash.
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
How to enter
- Click “Register” to sign up for important challenge communications.
- Visit the Resources page for access to datasets, tools, and more.
- Create your app!
- Shoot your demo video and take screenshots of your functioning app.
- Provide a way for us to access your app.
- Get started on your draft and submit early
Judges

Brian Lobley
SVP Marketing & Consumer Business, Independence Blue Cross

Christopher Wink
Cofounder of Technical.ly

Akhsar Kharebov
Chief Evangelist at Validic

Karen Griffith Gryga
Managing Partner at DreamIt Ventures

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberg
Cofounder & CEO of Zivtech

Roy Rosin
Chief innovation officer at Penn Medicine

Peter Hotz
Industry Advisor, Vynamic
Judging Criteria
-
Quality of Idea
Includes creativity and originality of the idea. -
Implementation of Idea
Includes how well the idea was executed by the developer. -
Potential Impact
Includes the extent to which the application could impact chronically ill diabetes patients and their caregivers. -
Sustainability
Includes the likelihood of the application’s continued use by the intended population. How “sticky” is the app?
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