Stanford Healthcare Design Challenge
Bridging the gap between healthcare innovation and implementation.
Kick-Off Webinar Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOKTpSPCvmY
2024 Stanford Healthcare Design Challenge Prompt:
Design a financially sustainable and scalable solution tailored for vulnerable populations that effectively addresses their social determinants of health (SDOH) needs to enhance engagement with healthcare and improve health outcomes. Consider focusing on a specific population and their needs (e.g., individuals with housing insecurity, substance use disorders, or disabilities). Your solution should demonstrate value to stakeholders (payers, patients, health systems, etc.) and outline the necessary steps and feasibility for implementation to achieve long-term, impactful improvements in the lives of these populations. Innovations should aim to strengthen the three pillars of healthcare: affordability, access, and quality (e.g., preventive care, wellness, or trust-building).
Background: The World Health Organization defines social determinants of health as “the non-medical factors that influence health outcomes, including the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, as well as the broader systems and policies shaping daily life.” Addressing SDOHs is crucial for advancing health equity, as these factors significantly impact an individual's health. Examples include:
- Income and social protection
- Education and job security
- Working conditions
- Food and housing security
- Access to essential services
- Early childhood development
- Social inclusion and non-discrimination
- Structural conflicts
- Access to affordable, quality healthcare
Thought Questions:
We encourage teams to explore the following key questions and focus areas. However, please don’t feel limited to these ideas!. We anticipate that these suggestions will represent only a small fraction of the potential solutions to the theme of SDOH at large. If one of these ideas excites you, we hope our confidence in its promise gives you extra encouragement to dive in!
1. Data Collection, Integration, and Utilization:
- What types of SDOH data—such as housing, education, employment, and food security—can be collected and analyzed to enhance health outcomes for vulnerable populations that would be beneficial for policy makers or health systems?
- How can we address data gaps and ensure the accuracy of SDOH data to enable proactive, preventative care, particularly for frequent emergency service users?
- What strategies can align incentives between payers, health systems, and social services to collaboratively improve patient outcomes?
2. Community Engagement and Support:
- How can health systems and providers leverage community-based organizations to reach and support individuals in settings like homeless shelters, food banks, and community centers, ensuring culturally relevant interventions?
- How can community health workers foster personal relationships and trust to enhance intervention effectiveness?
- What educational initiatives can empower these populations with knowledge about available resources and health management?
3. Automation and Technology Implementation:
- How can emerging technologies, such as sensors, remote monitoring, and Wi-Fi access, play a role in creating SDOH solutions that improve healthcare delivery and outcomes for vulnerable populations?
- Can automation be utilized to collect, analyze, and continuously monitor SDOH data? How can these systems be designed to address the complexities of vulnerable populations?
- Can predictive analytics identify individuals at risk due to SDOH factors, and how can these insights be used to tailor effective interventions?
4. Addressing Broader Systemic Challenges:
- How can we overcome misaligned incentives between healthcare, social services, and other stakeholders to support SDOH initiatives across sectors?
- What policy or structural changes are necessary to make addressing SDOH a shared responsibility? How can your solution contribute to these changes?
- How can data sharing and collaboration be improved between healthcare providers, social service agencies, and community organizations to create a unified approach?
Application Form: https://forms.gle/p6PcxV1xWZ9EgTDdA
The Problem
Healthcare problems are fundamentally messy. They represent interwoven issues spanning people, providers, payers, public health officials, and policymakers among innumerable others. As a consequence, innovation in the space is challenging and requires sourcing multidisciplinary perspectives to solve these deeply entrenched challenges within a field that is, understandably, at its core, risk-averse. However, here, in the heart of entrepreneurial innovation and thought in the United States, we lack the ability to direct resources towards ideas that are worth carrying beyond the competition itself. That is to say, innumerable promising and high-potential ideas simply die in utero.
Our Solution
We are launching Stanford’s Inaugural Healthcare Design Challenge (SHDC), the first of its kind, that sources talent across the nation and directs them toward addressing critical issues in healthcare. Not only will this be the first healthcare design challenge at Stanford, home of the entrepreneurial spirit of Silicon Valley, but it is also an opportunity to pioneer a new model for academic competitions. Specifically, we aim to democratize knowledge and access to implementation resources as well as provide critical follow-on support to teams who participate in our case competitions.
The Model
In this virtual competition, students will develop feasible solutions to address complex healthcare challenges while considering the broader policy context and implications. At the Stanford Healthcare Design Challenge, we bridge this gap through three core approaches: democratizing knowledge on healthcare innovation via our open-learning series in September, providing access to over 50 mentors—many from the C-suite or senior executive level—who offer diverse stakeholder insights, and incorporating direct industry input through a judging panel of senior decision-makers from government, health systems, payers, and non-profits. Selected teams will also receive two weeks of expert-led lectures and mentorship across legal services, regulation, software design, clinical needs finding, and pitching, allowing them to refine their solutions and craft compelling value propositions before presenting to a panel of expert judges. Winning teams will receive stipends for customer discovery and go-to-market strategies, an advisory board of senior mentors, access to perks from industry partners, and most importantly, support to turn their ideas into reality.

The Team




FAQs
Questions about Applying:
- Who is this competition for?
- This competition is for students with a passion for healthcare innovation that want to learn what it takes to make a real world impact.
- What experience do I need?
- No prior experience in healthcare, entrepreneurship, or policy needed.
- Do I have to be a current student?
- Yes, all participants must be either students currently enrolled or recently graduated (in 2024) in a degree-granting program at a U.S. academic institution during the competition in October.
- Does the team have to be made up of exactly 5 people, or can it be 3 people?
- We will be looking for teams comprised of 3-5 students. We'll be selecting 12 teams in total.
- Can students from different degrees (MPH, MHA, PhD, etc.) form a team from the same university?
- Yes.
- Can students from different universities join in one team?
- Yes.
- Can university-affiliated staff like faculty, postdocs, and/or Research Assistants participate?
- No. This competition is for student teams. Student teams are welcome to have advisors though!
- Do you have to be on a team in order to sign up?
- No, you don't have to be on a team to apply. If you're interested, please use the #team-formation channel in Slack to find teammates.
- No, you don't have to be on a team to apply. If you're interested, please use the #team-formation channel in Slack to find teammates.
Questions about the Competition:
- What types of problems will we be working on?
- The 2024 Stanford Healthcare Design Challenge prompt will be released on September 1.
- What will be the timing for events?
- All events will be virtual and recorded. They will be scheduled at various times and days of the week to allow for a range of participation from speakers, mentors, and participants in different time zones (ET to PT).
- Do I have to be at every session?
- Recommended, but not required. We understand that participants will be students with classes and other obligations. However, we will be tracking engagement in cases of tie-break for initial selection.
- How much time should I expect to spend during the competition?
- You should expect to meet with your team at least 3 times during the 2 weeks of the competition to discuss the problem, the solution, and prepare for the pitch.
- Will there be mentors available during the competition?
- Yes. We have dozens of experienced mentors already signed up to support student teams during the competition. We will pair your team with mentor(s) with relevant experience, and there will be scheduled mentor days.
- What are the prizes for winners?
- The winning team will receive three months of ongoing support (Oct-Dec 2024), including access to an advisory board, in-kind prizes, and a customer discovery stipend.
- What does the implementation process look like after the challenge?
- Implementation support will differ depending on the team and the idea. We will support the winning team with resources for continuing to develop the idea and accountability from an advisory board.
I have another question.
Please contact us at stanford.hdc@gmail.com
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