The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH), Office on Women’s Health (OWH) is seeking innovative ways to ensure women with hypertension during pregnancy and/or postpartum receive appropriate monitoring and follow-up through the HHS Hypertension Innovator Award Competition.
Innovative Methods of Blood Pressure Monitoring and Follow-up in Women during Pregnancy and/or Postpartum.
With HHS Hypertension Innovator Award Competition OASH is seeking innovative ways to ensure women with hypertension during pregnancy.
The HHS Office on Women’s Health (OWH) is charged with providing expert advice and consultation to the Secretary on scientific, legal, ethical, and policy issues, and serving as a coordination point throughout HHS on issues affecting the health of women and girls. OWH establishes short and long-term goals within the Department for research, disease prevention and health promotion, service delivery, and education for public health and health care professionals surrounding women and girls’ health. OWH identifies needs and monitors activities within the Department that contribute to women and girls’ health and through leadership of the Coordinating Committee on Women’s Health. Additionally, OWH is responsible for facilitating the exchange of information through the National Women’s Health Information Center and promoting women and girls’ health programs and policies, all aimed at improving the health of women and girls.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in the United States. Hypertension affects one in every twelve to seventeen pregnancies in the United States. Women with hypertension are at risk for developing preeclampsia, stroke, and other serious complications in pregnancy and/or postpartum. Factors which increase the risk of hypertension during pregnancy include obesity and maternal age. Factors which limit women’s ability to manage their blood pressure include cost, transportation, schedules, locality (living in rural or underserved areas), and lack of education about the importance of good blood pressure control.
Innovative programs can overcome these challenges to increase the number of Americans with good blood pressure control and improve the nation’s health. Some progress has been made with home blood pressure monitoring, text-based communications with health care teams, revised prenatal and postpartum visit schedules, new models of patient education and empowerment, and partnerships with different members of the health care team and community.
Purpose
OWH is creating a national competition to identify effective, pre-existing programs that care for women with hypertension who are pregnant and/or postpartum. The goal of this innovative competition is to demonstrate sustainability and the ability to replicate and/or expand a program that provides effective monitoring and follow-up of hypertension for women who are pregnant and/or postpartum.
Subject and Scope of Prize Competition
This program will include attention to disparities, including racial/ethnic and/or urban/rural. The program must demonstrate evidence-based approaches to screening and treating hypertensive disorders and will be shared with the general public.
The competition has three phases. All eligible submissions will be evaluated, and separate prizes may be awarded for each of the three phases.
Key Dates
Phase 1: Identification of successful programs
- Open September 30, 2020 through November 16, 2020.
- Webinar: October 20, 2020, 3:00-4:00 pm EST: Join here
- Phase 1 submissions are due by November 16, 2020, 11:59 pm EST.
- Judging for Phase 1 will occur from November 17, 2020 through December 1, 2020.
- Finalists that move into Phase 2 will be awarded by December 2, 2020.
Phase 2: Awarding plans for sustainability and replication and/or expansion
- Competition occurs September 29, 2021 through October 30, 2021.
- Phase 2 submissions are due by October 30, 2021, 11:59 pm EST.
- Judging for Phase 2 will occur from October 31, 2021 through November 20, 2021.
- Finalists that move into Phase 3 will be awarded by November 21, 2021.
Phase 3: Awarding the programs that have successfully replicated and/or expanded
- Competition occurs September 29, 2022 through October 30, 2022.
- Phase 3 submissions are due by October 30, 2022, 11:59 pm EST.
- Judging for Phase 3 will occur from October 31, 2022 through November 20, 2022.
- Finalists will be awarded by November 21, 2022.
Rules
Eligibility
To be eligible to win a prize under this competition, an individual, group, or entity—
- Shall have registered to participate in the competition under the rules promulgated by HHS;
- Shall have complied with all the requirements under this section;
- In the case of a private entity, shall be incorporated in and maintain a primary place of business in the United States, and in the case of an individual, whether participating singly or in a group, shall be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States;
- May not be a Federal entity or Federal employee acting within the scope of their employment (all non-HHS Federal employees must consult with their agency Ethics Official to determine whether the Federal ethics rules will limit or prohibit the acceptance of a COMPETES Act prize);
- Shall not be a Federal employee working on their applications or submissions during assigned duty hours;
- May not be an HHS employee;
- May not be any other individual or entity associated with the development, evaluation, or administration of the competition or members of such persons’ immediate families (i.e., spouses, children, siblings, parents), and persons living in the same household as such persons, whether or not related;
- A Federal grantee may not use Federal funds to develop submissions unless consistent with the purpose of their grant award;
- A Federal contractor may not use Federal funds from a contract to develop COMPETES Act challenge applications or to fund efforts in support of a COMPETES Act challenge submission;
- Shall not be deemed ineligible because the individual or entity used federal facilities or consulted with federal employees during a competition if the facilities and employees are made equitably available to all individuals and entities participating in the competition;
- Must provide a statement agreeing to indemnify the federal government against third party claims for damages arising from or related to competition activities;
- Must provide a statement agreeing to assume 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 prize contest, whether the injury, death, damage, or loss arises through negligence or otherwise.
- Agree to obtain liability insurance, or demonstrate financial responsibility, in the amount of $500,000, for claims by (a) a third party for death, bodily injury, property damage, or loss resulting from an activity carried out in connection with participation in a Challenge, with the Federal Government named as an additional insured under the registered participant’s insurance policy, and (b) the Federal Government for damage or loss to Government property resulting from such activity.
- Shall not be currently on the Excluded Parties List (https://oig.hhs.gov/exclusions/index.asp).
Additional Information
- Participants shall not use the OWH or HHS logos or official seals in their submissions and must not claim endorsement.
- Participants agree that HHS may disqualify the submission if, in HHS’ judgment, the program is inconsistent with HHS’ public health mission, may be ineffective or harmful, or any other reason deemed necessary.
- HHS reserves the right to cancel, suspend, and/or modify the competition or any part of it, for any reason, at HHS’ sole discretion.
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Awards:-
$3,325,000 in FY20 funds.
Prize Breakdown
- Phase 1 FY20 (Identification of successful programs): Up to 20 submissions may be selected to each receive a prize of up to $50,000.
- Phase 2 FY21 (Awarding plans for sustainability and replication and/or expansion): The participants selected to receive a prize for Phase 1 may compete for consideration to receive a prize in Phase 2. Up to 15 submissions may be selected to each receive a prize of up to $75,000.
- Phase 3 FY22 (Awarding programs that have successfully replicated and/or expanded): The participants selected to receive a prize in Phase 2 may compete for consideration to receive a prize in Phase 3. Up to 12 submissions may be selected to each receive a prize of up to $100,000.
- All winners will be notified via email.
Awardees will be expected to present their program for Office on Women’s Health staff and members of the public at the end of each award phase. This presentation may be virtual or in-person and prize funds are expected to be used to facilitate this presentation.
Deadline:- 16-11-2020