UHC Partners with AVIA to Host UHC Start-Up Challenge: Innovation Delivered

CHICAGO, Oct. 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- UHC and AVIA have partnered to launch the UHC Startup Challenge: Innovation Delivered, a competition that will unveil new innovative technological solutions beneficial to the health care industry.

Five digital health entrepreneurs will pitch their ideas to a panel of expert judges from the health care field and more than 1,000 health care professionals at Pulse, the UHC Annual Conference 2013, which will be held October 17-18, in Atlanta, Ga. Votes from the judges and attendees will be tabulated in real time, and the winning company will receive a $10,000 grand prize, as well as advisory support from UHC and AVIA for one year.

"We are proud to collaborate with AVIA to launch UHC's first Startup Challenge, enabling UHC to foster the development of innovative new products with the potential to help revolutionize health care," said Irene Thompson, UHC's president and chief executive officer. "We are excited to share these innovative solutions with our members—the leading providers of complex health care—to gain their insights and support to further refine the product concepts."

UHC, a Chicago-based consortium of 118 leading academic medical centers and nearly 300 of their affiliated hospitals, is collaborating with AVIA, the innovation accelerator for health care providers, to select the 5 finalists, who will be announced in early October.

"The health care industry is on the verge of tremendous change and the opportunity to help create 'the next big thing'—one that will greatly benefit providers and patients alike—is at the center of AVIA's mission," said Eric Langshur, AVIA's chief executive officer. "UHC has an impressive track record of offering innovative solutions as well as thought-provoking, practical conferences and we are thrilled to collaborate with their organization on this initiative."

About UHC

UHC is an alliance of the nation's leading nonprofit academic medical centers, which are focused on delivering world-class patient care. Formed in 1984 and based in Chicago, Ill, UHC fosters collaboration with and among its 118 academic medical center and 299 affiliated hospital members through its renowned solutions in the areas of performance improvement, comparative data and analytics, supply chain management, strategic research, and public policy. UHC helps its members achieve excellence in quality, safety, and cost-effectiveness. UHC's membership includes the leading nonprofit academic medical centers in the United States. For more information, visit https://www.uhc.edu.

About AVIA

AVIA is a Chicago-based innovation accelerator that helps healthcare providers successfully implement emerging technology-enabled products and services. Our mission is to advance healthcare providers' innovation goals while conserving time, resources, and capital. By providing business development and operational support, AVIA helps members' executive teams identify, evaluate and implement the best emerging solutions to power their innovation priorities. For more information, please visit: http://aviahealthinnovation.com.

SOURCE UHC