Innovation Community Events
A health care hackathon is a collaborative design sprint. Participants come together from different backgrounds and professions to solve specific challenges, usually over the course of just a few days. These events foster innovation, build stronger ties within communities and across industry, and promote VA’s commitment to innovation.
The Impact of Community Events
COVID-19 MIT Hack Solution
As a result of winning the MIT COVID-19 Hackathon Challenge, VHA and Ulivity, LLC (Ulivity) have partnered to improve adherence to social distancing guidance without increasing wait times. Through the testing and validation of Ulivity’s web-based platform, the number of individuals in an outpatient waiting room is expected to decrease, positively impacting adherence to social distancing practices. This tool will be leveraged at no cost to VA, with designated iNET sites and their clinic staff accessing the platform dashboard for the purpose of piloting.
COVID-19 Maker Challenge
VHA Innovation Ecosystem and Veteran nonprofit Challenge America partnered with federal agencies, private industry, leading research universities, and nonprofits to develop innovative solutions to the challenges encountered by essential workers on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic. Working with teams of engineers and designers, these challenges have produced innovative and unique solutions using rapid manufacturing processes like 3D printing that are capable of scaling quickly to meet the needs on the ground during the COVID-19 pandemic.
More about health care hackathons
Health care hackathons are a powerful way to engage individuals across public and private sectors—government, health care, industry, and academia—in collaborative solution engineering to address some of VA’s biggest challenges.