Powered by support from the Colorado Health Foundation, Prime Health’s Innovation Challenge is an annual program that advances healthcare through innovation, aiming to improve health equity, access, quality, and cost for underserved communities in Colorado.
What is the Prime Health Innovation Challenge?
A collaborative, community-driven process to:
amplify and accelerate diverse and impact-driven founders
vet, validate, and pilot the best technology and solutions
advance healthcare in Colorado through innovation, collaboration, and community building
Provider, payer, policy, business, and technology experts provide feedback and mentorship to digital health companies seeking to pilot their solutions with healthcare organizations. The 3-round, multi-month program concludes with a live pitch competition featuring the top safety-net health solutions vying to win a portion of the prize funding and the chance to pilot their solution with a safety net partner.
This annual program began in 2014 in Colorado to galvanize the safety-net ecosystem and accelerate the adoption of safety-net health technologies focused on achieving the Quadruple Aim: improved patient experience, improved provider experience, improved population health, and lower costs.
Through a collaborative health innovation ecosystem, we can:
Clarify common barriers, problems, needs, and shared priorities within the healthcare industry
Identify companies and healthcare that are pursuing ways to solve those problems
Validate solutions impactful to Colorado healthcare
Accelerate the adoption of these solutions within safety-net health organizations
Watch our Host Info Webinar
Complete our quick application to sign up as a Host Organization
$150,000 will be awarded to fund pilots between the winning solutions and Colorado healthcare organizations.
The Numbers
Vetted and validated more than 500 health innovation solutions
Built more than 45 health innovation pilots and partnerships
Awarded nearly $1.9 million in prize funding since 2014
Why should YOU participate in the Challenge?
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Our judges represent a diverse pool of leaders with expertise and experience in a wide range of issues and perspectives in evaluation. Judges come from healthcare organizations ranging from some of the largest health systems to small rural practices, state and local government, payers, accountable care organizations, community-based organizations, foundations, venture capital groups, technology companies, advocacy groups, and more.
They evaluate digital health solutions based on a robust rubric of impact, alignment, sustainability, accessibility, design, clinical, business, financial, and technology rubrics.
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Healthcare providers do amazing, life-saving work on razor-thin budgets. As such, we award $150,000 in pilot funding provided by The Colorado Health Foundation to cover the cost of technology.
That way, you have a risk-free opportunity to try it out, see if it works, and test the financial sustainability of the solution before you make any commitments. No financial contribution is expected from the host. Plus, you get a year’s technical assistance from Prime Health during pilot implementation.
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We succeed when you succeed, and we’re deeply invested in making that happen!
The innovation landscape is vast, complex, nuanced, and ever-changing. Our team lives and breathes it so you don’t have to. We help you navigate and understand these different solutions, brainstorm pathways for sustainability and new revenue generation, discuss which technologies are the best fit for your populations and goals, and whatever else it takes to ensure a good fit. If a specific solution might not be the best fit, we’ll also talk about that with you and why. The goal is to improve your and your patients’ lives, not to force pilots and solutions on you that don’t make sense.
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We have a large cohort of participants from government, foundation, investor and payer sectors. They attend in part to hear from you about what works, what doesn’t, and what you need to achieve your goals. The Challenge process naturally creates a neutral, safe forum to collectively voice barriers related to reimbursement, funding, policy, regulation and other such considerations.
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We know how to have fun. Healthcare is complex and challenging enough. It doesn’t need to be stiff, dry, or boring. Numerous studies also show that innovation, creativity, and learning improve when people have fun. As such, you can be sure that every Prime Health event will be positive, upbeat, and a refreshing break from daily pressures.
FAQs
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Fill out our short application here.
Attend the Final Live Pitch Event in person or virtually on October 15th.
Vote for solutions you are interested exploring a pilot with for your organization
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Must be a healthcare organization serving patients in Colorado. This can include primary care, behavioral health, hospital, payer, local health agency, school-based health centers, community organizations, and more. If you are serving patients/clients and providing healthcare services, we’d love to meet you.
Must be open to hosting a funded pilot with a top digital health technology.
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Please fill out the Host application for the Challenge Final Pitch Event
Register to attend the Final Pitch Event, either in person or virtually.
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Nothing! We are not charging a registration fee for Hosts. We strive to maximize accessibility and participation and don't want location or cost to be a barrier. We're proud to get the word out to everyone and anyone who wants to see the finalists pitch, learn about the Challenge, or explore hosting a pilot.
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VIBEcare Inc.
Moodr Health
Cara AI
CleanCut Health
Midato Health
Elythea
Innovation Challenge Host Alumni
Colorado Center for Nursing Excellence
Colorado Coalition for the Homeless
Colorado Community Health Alliance
Colorado Community Health Network
Colorado Health Innovation Collaborative (CHIC)
Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing
Colorado Office of eHealth Innovation
Colorado Smart Cities Alliance