Health and Human Services (HHS) is seeking innovative entrepreneurs to apply for the HHSentrepreneurs Program. Launched last year, HHSentrepreneurs connects private sector innovators and entrepreneurs with teams of federal employees working on projects that address some of the biggest challenges in health, health care and human services.
The first individuals hired last October through HHSentrepreneurs are working on critical projects including the Affordable Care Act, health resilience technology, and the nation’s organ transplant system.
HHSentrepreneurs is recruiting the brightest experts and entrepreneurs in the nation who have demonstrated a significant record of achievement in their fields. In last year’s competition for four projects, six individuals were selected from a field of more than 100 candidates. These highly talented professionals from business, industry, and academia bring successful innovations, models, and business practices to work on specific, high-priority projects over a period of six to 12 months.
This year, HHS is looking for individuals with a passion for solving pressing problems in healthcare through innovative and game-changing solutions. External Entrepreneurs may be academics, policymakers, business gurus, or non-profit leaders who have demonstrated a significant record of achievement in their field.
This year, HHSentrepeneurs intends to place six to eight external entrepreneurs into the following projects starting in the fall of 2013:
- Application of Design Thinking to Grants: The Administration for Children and Families seeks to improve grantee program implementation to better meet the needs of the low income populations that the agency serves through the creation of a low cost, replicable methodology to better assess grantee client problems.
- Cloud-Based GIS Maps Displaying Aggregate Data on Medical Malpractice: The Health Resources Services Administration seeks to build a public-facing Geographic Information Systems map application that displays medical malpractice data to allow researchers and the general public to better view, analyze, and understand this information to support the development of novel tools and strategies to improve patient safety and protection.
- Health Information Exchange Accelerators: The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology seeks to accelerate health information exchange (HIE) by developing new tools that can reduce HIE implementation effort and cost for a wide range of health care entities including those that are not eligible for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Electronic Health Records Incentive Program.
- Modernizing the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System: CMS seeks to improve the existing National Plan and Provider Enumeration System to improve usability, scalability and data quality.
- Predictive Analytics: Merging Innovation and Business Operations: The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources seeks to leverage the field of predictive analytics to generate predictive risk models to proactively manage grants across HHS Operating and Staff Divisions.
- Publication Planning and Clearance Process Improvement Project: The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs seeks to re-engineer its publications planning and clearance process to better meet the needs of a communications landscape dominated by digital and social media.
Ideal entrepreneur candidates should possess the following skill-sets:
– Advanced degree or an equivalent combination of education and experience
– Innovative and entrepreneurial ability and potential, as demonstrated by leading innovative processes and/or solutions. Specific entrepreneurial or start-up activity is particularly desirable
– Minimum of 5 years experience designing, developing, and implementing new ventures, including a track record of taking risks to develop new products and/or solutions
– Expertise in open innovation, agile development, and/or lean methodologies, and iterative program design
– Experience in organizational development and executive-level decision making, particularly around change management and/or the introduction of disruptive technologies or practices into an organization
– Strong analytical and research skills and a demonstrated capacity for creative thinking
– Experience in program evaluation methodologies, including quantitative analysis skills
– Excellent communication and leadership skills
The application period is open from June 27 – August 16, 2013. For more information and to apply, visit http://www.hhs.gov/open/initiatives/entrepreneurs/index.html.
