Preliminary Competition Timeline

Shashi

Above image is the proposed timeline for the competition (click here for larger image; also see detailed description below), starting with a proposal submission followed by prototype building in round one and solution deployment and user testing in the final round each with its own judging phase.

We would like your feedback on the overall timeline of the prize.
Please leave any thoughts or ideas you may have in the comments below!

Here is more detail of what each section composes of:
Overall, we expect teams to develop and deploy 3-6 solutions for real-life demonstration in a catchment area and the chosen health focus.
Round 1 (6 Months): Proposal Submission
Teams carry out human centered design with country health leadership, frontline health workers (FHW), & key stakeholders. Then they submit written proposals for how to aggregate & harmonize data AND how they will demonstrate both the primary and secondary benefits.

Round 2 (12 Months): Build & Test Interoperability System
Develop an interoperability prototype and demonstrate its quality and functionality through testing with the existing point-of-care systems and against predetermined criteria such as accuracy, speed, and other performance metrics.

Round 3 (12 Months): Deployment and Demonstration of Primary and Secondary Benefits
Deploy solution in one catchment area. Gather user feedback on the solution to demonstrate the primary benefits to the frontline health workers and the secondary benefits for population level insights for evaluation by health leadership.

Shashi

Hi @ymedan, @mashizaq, @preciouslunga, @shamakarkal, @ajchenx, @jonc101, @bngejane, @supratik12, @Nitesh, @addy_kulkarni, @pglass - Please provide your feedback on the overall timeline of this competition.

mashizaq

@Shashi 6 months for proposal submission is quite a long time, but considering that we shall be submitting 3-6 different proposals, I think it is doable. I am okay with round 2 and 3 timelines

ymedan

@Shashi My preference is 3 months for submission, 9 months for development (it is enough for having a baby :-) and 12 months for depoyment. Note that some solutions can demonstrate benefits in a shorter time frame and some may need more time. So clipping at 12 months may force some (good) submissions to become unqualified.

Shashi

Thanks @mashizaq and @ymedan for sharing your thoughts.

Hi @kenjisuzuki, @Nvargas2, @skornik, @Kwenz, @Manoj_Nemocare, @tylerbn, @biki, @siimsaare and @Davisthedoc - Curious to know if you have any feedback to share on the proposed timeline of this competition.

skornik

@Shashi I am looking this and thinking it is a little "how long is a piece of string". The timelines look good from development cycle perspective. But they are highly reliant, amongst others, on the resources available to each team (controllable), access to the health systemS data systems (not controllable and, in this context, not easy) and the availability of the appropriate resources within the health system to do what needs to be done (not controllable). This can be managed through contracting, refining the MVP and the appropriate funding. Excuse me if I have missed some of this input earlier on in previous discussions. But timelines definitely need to be looked at against other criteria...

Shashi

Thanks @skornik for sharing your thoughts.

Hi @orsina, @janansmith, @jenyxp, @arun_venkatesan, @DidierC, @dpatterson22, @rajpanda, @RahulJindal and @SArora - Would love to hear your thoughts on the proposed preliminary timeline of this competition.

DidierC

Very short,
I would prefer shorter because Life Extension is urgent
Phase 1 maximum 3 months
Phase 2 maximum 6 months
Phase 3 maximum 9 months
But maybe I missed things
Didier

Shashi

Thanks @DidierC for your thoughts. I feel you have mistaken this prize for Age Reversal, where we are working on the prize design for life extension. This timeline is for Frontline Health XPRIZE, wherein the teams would have to design a solution that aggregates and harmonizes health data to address the primary care needs of a country. In this respect, what are your thoughts on the proposed timeline.

Shashi

Hi @paulauerbach, @synhodo, @reubenwenisch, @MachineGenes, @ShmuleyG, @CHardaker, @Hongsoo, @stephaniel, @JohnParrishSprowl - What is your take on the proposed timeline for the FLH competition?

DidierC

Sorry Shashi, lost indeed in your diversity. Great initiatives here anyway.

reubenwenisch

To me, the timeline looks okay. Could you elaborate on this catchment area, please? Roughly how many health workers are part of it? Do you think 1 catchment area will suffice? Are we measuring the impact created?

Shashi

Hi @Marthavjennings, @joshnesbit, @mendezra2, @JohnParrishSprowl, @LeeStein, @drdavewinkler and @Easin32746 - Curious to know if you have any thoughts on the proposed timeline for the FLH competition.

HeatherSutton

@mashizaq ~ You are spot on! Actually, the visual timeline breaks down the 6 months into 3 months to conduct the human-centered design sessions (not that the design sessions will take 3 months, but they may need to be conducted in multi-day sessions over time, so we allowed some buffer for preparations, etc) and then 3 months to prepare the written proposals the design sessions. It's comforting to hear that you think 3 months is sufficient (but not too much) for the written proposals. Thanks for your input!

mashizaq

@HeatherSutton You are welcome

Shashi

@reubenwenisch - We are still working on the catchment area, trying to understand the various necessary factors. We'll keep you posted once we finalize. We will definitely measure the impact and scale it.

Hongsoo

Dear @Shashi, thanks for your leadership.
I agree with @mashizaq and @HeatherSutton.

mashizaq

Hongsoo wrote: »

Dear @Shashi, thanks for your leadership.
I agree with @mashizaq and @HeatherSutton.

Thanks @Hongsoo

HeatherSutton

@ymedan ~ Haha! I love your reference to pregnancy and the 9-month timeframe for development.

HeatherSutton

@skornik ~ Glad to know that the timelines look okay from a development cycle perspective. You are 100% correct in that our final timelines will be dependent on other factors, namely our country partner - very perceptive of you to mention that!

The goal is to co-design the final details with the country partner (once they are selected) and to determine the very items you mentioned: How much access to data will teams have? Or alternately, what synthetic data can we use in it's place? What health system resources (including workforce) will be available for implementing and testing the final solutions. There is still much to be determined on the specifics, but that we hope to nail down within the next few months.

HeatherSutton

@DidierC ~ That's a great angle. Keep the timelines as short as possible due to the urgency of the solutions that will come of this prize.

HeatherSutton

@reubenwenisch ~ To elaborate a bit on what Shashi mentioned about catchment areas. This is yet to be determined and likely won't be determined until we have chosen a country partner. In theory, we could divide one large catchment area up and have finalist teams work in that single catchment area to deploy and test their solutions. Alternately, we could work with the country partner and decide that it would be best to determine a few catchment areas within the country and teams could each be assigned one catchment area. The challenge with this approach, of course, is keeping the competition fair and equitable. We'd have to make sure the catchment areas were similar enough to make a "fair playing ground" for each team.

Do you think one of those would work? Or would you rather see individual teams covering multiple catchment areas (i.e. one team would work in 2-3 different catchment areas to "prove" flexibility in their solution)?

We will be measuring impact created, though, this is also tricky to define without understanding what impact metrics the country already collects (to test pre/post states). The impact metrics we would focus on will most likely relate to measures of quality and efficiency and user experience. What do you think of that approach (at least at a generalized level now)?

Nitesh

@Shashi and @HeatherSutton, overall timeline, looks ok for an experienced team.
The regulatory approvals, data protection, hardware for the data collection can add time up to 6 months to solution development.
One team working in one specific geographic area at the start to perfect the solution for it's core functions is the most sensible thing. Most developing countries have similar health models (not the same) and similar problems with varying degree of criticality. The solution can be modified for the other catchment area further down the road.
The potential impact can be monitored by the understanding problem itself. For example, if there is one area that has a high prevalence of diabetic population which is leading to higher mortality rates due to non-communicable diseases so if a solution which is focusing on diabetes monitoring and control should have a direct impact patient management.
Similarly, another example can be clinical and nutritional parameter monitoring during the pregnancy and impact of this on neonatal mortality and morbidity can be easily measured by looking at the historic data and a potential impact of the intervention.
I hope it has made some sense.

HeatherSutton

@Nitesh ~ It makes great sense and we really appreciate your feedback here. Especially around the timing of regulatory approvals etc added to the solution development timeline. It's great to have that insight!

Also very much appreciate your suggestion to keep it to one specific geographic area at the start to perfect the solution. Thank you!