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Ignite the Future of Health Data Usability

Transforming raw Electronic Health Information (EHI) into actionable insights for patients and clinicians.

Congratulations to the nine winners of the ONC EHIgnite Challenge. Following nearly one hundred submissions, these winners were selected for Phase 1. Each winner receives a $10,000 award and advances to Phase 2.

Watch the EHIgnite Challenge Phase 1 Winners Showcase

The Challenge

Why does the EHIgnite Challenge matter?

Since December 2023, health IT developers have been required to export EHI, but “computable” doesn’t always mean “usable.” Raw exports are often overwhelming and difficult to integrate.

Meet the Phase 1 Winners

  • Apertura Health, Inc. – Transforms EHI exports into scenario summaries, connection views, and “dropped threads” lists to surface missed follow-ups and care gaps using AI. 
  • Benten Technologies, Inc. – Focuses on maternal health and substance use recovery, transforming complex records into plain-language care summaries, and anonymous screening tools with an AI-driven synthesis layer. 
  • CareLead, Inc. – Builds a patient-governed, portable platform that ingests multisource data, surfaces clinical conflicts for explicit patient resolution, and turns reconciled records into structured tasks, reminders, and visit-ready summaries. 
  • HealthLink360 – Makes raw EHI usable across the healthcare ecosystem by scoring facts for recency and consistency, expanding into behavioral, biometric, and social determinants data. 
  • HubChart – Converts dense exports into plain-language summaries and Q&A, using secure SMS links and conversational interfaces to support safer hospital-to-skilled nursing facility transitions.
  • MediVu – Combines structured queries, natural language processing, and advanced AI to deliver intuitive narratives, recovery plans, and dashboards through FHIR®-enabled portals.
  • Precision Health Ventures – Provides an AI platform that ingests FHIR records along with data from wearables and home monitoring devices to generate understandable patient health narratives. 
  • Quinoa, Inc. – Turns static EHI exports into dynamic, shared care hubs where an agentic AI coordinates on behalf of caregivers, automating medication management, appointment scheduling, and team task organization across data sources.  
  • Washington Health Summary – Aggregates data from EHRs, insurers, and state registries into a cohesive, patient-controlled record, using AI to translate clinical terminology into plain language and filling critical gaps such as advance directives.

Watch the Orientation Webinar & Download Slides

This webinar provides a comprehensive breakdown of the EHIgnite Challenge’s objective, background, submission guidelines, multi-phase prize structure, evaluation criteria, and competition eligibility rules. The webinar also features a live Q&A answering attendees questions.

Download Challenge Webinar Slides
Download Challenge Webinar Video
Go to Challenge FAQs Page

Resources

View helpful ONC EHI resources from the list below:

Getting Ready for EHI Export: A Quick Guide
Understanding Electronic Health Information (EHI)
My Health Data EHI WIP (Github Repository)
Download Official Challenge Rules

Watch the
Orientation Webinar &
Download the Webinar Slides

This webinar provides a comprehensive breakdown of the EHIgnite Challenge’s objective, background, submission guidelines, multi-phase prize structure, evaluation criteria, and competition eligibility rules. The webinar also features a live Q&A answering attendees questions.

Download Challenge Webinar Slides
Go to Challenge FAQs Page
Download Challenge Webinar Video

Resources

View helpful ONC EHI resources from the list below:

Mission

Develop tools, platforms, and workflows that transform raw EHI into usable, readable, and actionable information that supports clinical care, patient engagement, and informed decision-making.

Interactive Patient Tools (Optional)

Enable patients to ask questions about their health data and receive understandable responses.

Submissions must create a usable, readable summary of relevant health information PLUS an additional scenario
Clinical Domain Customization (Optional)

Build tools that allow customized queries and organization by relevant domains.

Integration Across Settings (Optional)

Allow and enhance integration of exports from multiple places of care.

Streamline Payer Uses (Optional)

Enhance easier and more streamlined sharing of information for insurance coverage.

Participant Defined Use Case (Optional)

Have a better idea? Propose it.

Timeline & Prizes

Phase
Date
Focus
Prize

Phase 1

Phase 1 Launched: February 17, 2026

Phase 1 Closed:
May 20, 2026

Phase 1 Winners Announced: July 21, 2026

Submit proposal, design narrative, and wireframes.

 

Nine winners awarded $10,000 each and invited to Phase 2.

Phase 2

Phase 2 Launch: July 29, 2026

Phase 2 Close: March 24, 2027

Phase 2 Winners Announcement: Summer 2027

Phase 1 winners develop and test solutions.

1st: $250,000

2nd Place: $100,000

3rd Place: $30,000

Most Innovative Use of AI: $20,000

Phase 2 Submission Components

Working Prototype
  • Develop your winning proposal into a working prototype to be shared with the judges.
Technical Documentation
  • System architecture, schemas, and implementation documentation.
Testing Documentation
  • Usability or interoperability testing across different EHRs, file formats, data sources, etc.
Recorded Video Demo
  • A high-quality, recorded, 5 to 10- minute video demonstration showcasing the prototype's core functionality and user experience.
Live Demo
  • Live demo presented directly to judges; this interactive session will be scheduled with your team (not a file submission).

Evaluation and Judging

Phase 2 submissions will be evaluated by a panel of representative, expert judges. Following the submission deadline, the Judging Panel will review the submissions and discuss, evaluate, and rank the submissions. Judges will assess submissions on the criteria described below and score submissions on a 100 point scale.

Relevance and Problem Alignment (Up to 25 pts)
  • How effectively does the solution address the usability challenges of single patient EHI exports, including summarization for patients?
  • Does the solution clearly solve a real-world problem for patients, clinicians, or care teams in line with the participants’ selected scenario(s)?
Potential for Integration & Scaling (Up to 20 pts)
  • Do the solution and related documentation demonstrate a practical path for implementation and integration into existing clinical workflows?
  • Does the solution use consensus-based standards, including those adopted by ONC such as FHIR Release 4, US Core Implementation Guide v6, and SMART App Launch Framework 2.0?
  • Can the solution scale across multiple patients or providers, or be interoperable across multiple EHR systems?
Interpretability & Ease of Use (Up to 40 pts)
  • How effective is the solution’s approach to summarizing, integrating, or interacting with EHI data to make it readable and actionable in novel and creative ways?
  • Is the solution intuitive and easy to use for patients, clinicians, and care teams, that reflects use of user-centered design principles?
  • Does the solution demonstrate potential to improve care coordination, patient engagement, or clinical decision-making?
Privacy and Security (Up to 15 pts)
  • Does the solution and related documentation clearly demonstrate adherence to HIPAA rules, as well as other applicable privacy, security, and consent laws?
  • How effective and innovative is the solution in enabling users to customize privacy settings when sharing data?
Most Innovative Use of AI Award
  • What is the most innovative and creative use of AI? Does the AI use make sense within the solution’s purpose?
  • Is the use of AI transparent and clear to end-users?
  • Is the use of AI compliant with applicable privacy and security laws, standards, and policies?

Eligibility & Rules

To be eligible to win a prize under this Challenge, a Participant (whether an individual, group of individuals, or entity):

The narrative must include the following sections:

  • Shall have registered to participate in the Challenge under the rules promulgated by the HHS as published in this announcement.
  • Shall have complied with all the requirements set forth in this announcement.
  • In the case of a private entity, shall be incorporated in and maintain a primary place of business in the U.S., and in the case of an individual, whether participating singly or in a group, shall be a citizen or permanent resident of the U.S.
  • Shall not be a federal entity or federal employee acting within the scope of their employment.
  • Shall not be an employee of the HHS (or any other component of HHS) acting in their personal capacity. Individuals employed by a federal agency or entity other than HHS (or any component of HHS) should consult with an agency ethics official to determine whether the federal ethics rules will limit or prohibit the acceptance of a prize under this Challenge.
  • Shall not be a judge of the Challenge, or any other party involved with the design, production, execution, or distribution of the Challenge or the immediate family of such a party (i.e., spouse, parent, stepparent, child, or stepchild).
  • Shall be 18 years of age or older at the time of submission.

Legal and Administrative Rules

  • Participants (whether individuals, groups of individuals, or entities) may not use federal funds from a grant award or cooperative agreement to develop their Challenge submissions or to fund efforts in support of their Challenge submissions.
  • Federal contractors may not use federal funds from a contract to develop their Challenge submissions or to fund efforts in support of their Challenge submissions.
  • By participating in this Challenge, each Participant (whether an individual, group of individuals, or entity) agrees to assume any and all risks and waive claims against the federal government and its related entities, except in the case of willful misconduct, for any injury, death, damage, or loss of property, revenue, or profits, whether direct, indirect, or consequential, arising from participation in this Challenge, whether the injury, death, damage, or loss arises through negligence or otherwise.
  • No Participant (whether an individual, group of individuals, or entity) participating in the Challenge is required to obtain liability insurance, or demonstrate financial responsibility, or agree to indemnify the federal government against third party claims for damages arising from or related to Challenge activities in order to participate in this Challenge
  • A Participant (whether an individual, group of individuals, or entity) shall not be deemed ineligible because the Participant used federal facilities or consulted with federal employees during the Challenge if the facilities and employees are made available to all Participants participating in the Challenge on an equitable basis.
  • By participating in this Challenge, each Participant (whether an individual, group of individuals, or entity) warrants that they are sole author or owner of, or has the right to use, any copyrightable works that the submission comprises, that the works are wholly original with the Participant (or is an improved version of an existing work that the Participant has sufficient rights to use and improve), and that the submission does not infringe any copyright or any other rights of any third party of which the Participant is aware.
  • Each Participant will retain all other intellectual property rights in their submissions, as applicable.
  • To participate in the Challenge, each Participant must warrant that there are no legal obstacles to providing the above-referenced nonexclusive licenses of the Participant’s rights to the federal government. To receive an award, Participants will not be required to transfer their intellectual property rights to HHS, but Participants must grant to the federal government the nonexclusive licenses recited herein.
  • Each Participant (whether an individual, group of individuals, or entity) agrees to follow all applicable federal, state, and local laws, regulations, and policies.
  • Each Participant (whether an individual, group of individuals, or entity) participating in this Challenge must comply with all terms and conditions of these rules, and participation in this Challenge constitutes each such Participant’s full and unconditional agreement to abide by these rules. Winning is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements herein.
  • As a condition for winning a cash prize in this Challenge, each Participant (whether an individual, group of individuals, or entity) that has been selected as a winner must complete and submit all requested winner verification and payment documents to HHS within 20 business days of formal notification. Failure to return all required verification documents by the date specified in the notification may be a basis for disqualification of a cash prize winning submission.