Janssen Healthcare Innovation Announces Janssen Connected Care Challenge to Spur Innovation in Patient Care

WASHINGTON, Jan. 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Janssen Healthcare Innovation, a team within Janssen Research & Development, LLC., (Janssen), announced the Janssen Connected Care Challenge at the Health Care Innovations Summit in Washington, D.C. The Janssen Connected Care Challenge calls for technology solutions to improve the coordination of care for patients as they are being discharged from the hospital. Janssen Healthcare Innovation will award a total of $250,000 to support further development of the top three ideas that improve healthcare outcomes. 

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The challenge finalists will benefit from funding and external expert collaboration while retaining independence and ownership of their business concepts. By working with outside experts, Janssen is able to tap a wider range of expertise, capabilities and resources to bring new advances and solutions in healthcare.

"Within Janssen, we support continuous innovation – both internally and externally – to develop the tools, frameworks and standards that will transform healthcare," said Diego Miralles, M.D., Head of Janssen Healthcare Innovation. "We hope that the Janssen Connected Care Challenge will inspire the best and the brightest entrepreneurs to develop effective, scalable solutions that can be deployed and truly make a meaningful impact in patients' lives."

Janssen Healthcare Innovation identified care transitions as an area in critical need of improvement. The team designed the Janssen Connected Care Challenge as a crowdsourcing-inspired effort to rally entrepreneurs' best ideas. The goal of the challenge is to improve the navigational process of transitioning patients out of the hospital with the use of technology. Janssen Healthcare Innovation is collaborating with the National Transitions of Care Coalition (NTOCC), which is providing input to the evaluation criteria for submissions as well as identifying care transition experts to participate in the panel of judges. 

"The National Transitions of Care Coalition is proud to support this important initiative by Janssen Healthcare Innovation," said Cheri Lattimer, Executive Director of NTOCC. "We believe the Janssen Connected Care Challenge addresses vital issues within healthcare delivery that are aligned with NTOCC's seven considerations for improving transitions of care and reinforces the essential elements of improved interventions NTOCC has identified in our Care Transitions Bundle."

The challenge was announced by Kimberly Park, Partner, Janssen Healthcare Innovation from the stage at the first ever Care Innovations Summit, a conference co-hosted by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation, The West Wireless Health Institute, and Health Affairs in collaboration with the Office of the National Coordinator at Health & Human Services. Janssen was invited by the collaborators to participate in the event designed to facilitate dialogue and drive action toward "better care and better health at lower cost through continuous improvement." A live webcast of the event is available starting at 8:15 a.m. Eastern.

"The organizations presenting challenges here today are pushing the best minds in the country to create a better healthcare system. They represent exciting solutions to help address some of the Nation's most urgent health needs," said CMS Acting Administrator Marilyn Tavenner.

Submissions for the Janssen Connected Care Challenge will be accepted from February 27, 2012 until March 25, 2012. Three finalists will be awarded $50,000 each and have the opportunity to work with healthcare experts to refine their solution. Each will present their ideas to a panel of esteemed judges at a Demo Day in May. The final winner will be selected on May 23, 2012 and awarded $100,000 to help develop their concept in the market.

About the Care Innovations Summit

Sponsored jointly by the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Health Affairs, and the West Wireless Health Institute, the Care Innovations Summit brings together more than 1,000 healthcare leaders, entrepreneurs, innovators, government officials, and finance experts to stimulate investment in a high-quality, sustainable healthcare system. Made possible by the Affordable Care Act and the Obama Administration's commitment to open government, the Summit represents a new opportunity for industry and government to work together to help spur innovation in the public and private sectors to improve healthcare quality as never before and lower costs through improvement.

National Transitions of Care Coalition (NTOCC)

The National Transitions of Care Coalition is a 501(c)(4) dedicated to addressing a serious U.S. health care issue: filling the gaps that occur when patients leave one care setting and move to another care setting. These transitions include patients moving from primary care to specialty physicians; moving or transferring patients from the emergency department to intensive care or surgery; or when patients are discharged from the hospital to home, assisted living arrangements, or skilled nursing facilities. Working in conjunction with 450 Associate Member organizations and over 3,000 individual professional subscribers, NTOCC has developed tools and resources made available to everyone in the health care industry including providers, payors, patients and consumers. For more information, visit www.NTOCC.org.

Janssen Healthcare Innovation

Janssen Healthcare Innovation is an entrepreneurial team within Janssen Research & Development, LLC, (Janssen), one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies. Through collaborations, Janssen Healthcare Innovation is developing products and services to deliver high-quality, cost-effective healthcare to all. The team's current initiatives include solutions to address three emerging markets of healthcare: optimizing healthcare delivery, the maintenance of health, and innovative financing of healthcare. It also has projects that will enhance the company's existing business by improving patient adherence to treatment regimens, applying personal genomics to drug development, and modernizing clinical trials. For more information about the team and the Janssen Connected Care Challenge, go to: www.janssenhealthcareinnovation.com

SOURCE Janssen Healthcare Innovation