OpenEMR announced for the second year in a row it will be a sponsor of Virginia Commonwealth Universities (VCU) HealthHacks event; a 24-hour hackathon bringing together students of engineering, medicine, and computer sciences.
Today, OpenEMR announced for the second year in a row that it will be a sponsor of Virginia Commonwealth Universities (VCU) HealthHacks event—a 24-hour hackathon bringing together students of engineering, medicine, and computer sciences. The event, taking place on November 3rd and 4th, focuses on solving some of medicine’s current problems as well as innovating new solutions for providers.
This year’s theme focuses on challenges in assistive technology and prosthetics, which explores the needs and challenges for assistive technology devices (i.e. communication devices, powered mobility, computer access, smart technology access, home automation, cognitive devices), prosthetics, and mental health supports. HealthHacks ’18 demonstrates the value of rapid prototyping and co-creation with a diverse set of students (engineering, business, design, health professions, and medicine) to develop personalized rehabilitation technologies that have the potential for impacting not just one veteran, but veterans across the Veterans Health Administration.
“After the excellent success of last year’s event, we knew returning this year was key for our community,” said Robert Down, BSN, RN, an OpenEMR project administrator. “During HealthHacks 2017 we were so impressed by the ambition and drive of the students; we were proud to see multiple teams take up our challenge, win mini-competitions, and even take second place in the overall event. We are looking forward to seeing what innovative ideas come out of this year’s event.”
“Part of what makes an open-source community successful is embracing innovation and collaboration. The HealthHacks event that VCU puts on is a prime example of an event focused on innovation and collaboration, which takes place in an exciting and fun environment.”
This year, OpenEMR will have a more noticeable footprint at the event, including a table with a demo of the software running on a micro computer board and a raffle for students to walk away with some OpenEMR swag.