WellPoint, Inc., the WellPoint Foundation, and the X PRIZE Foundation have announced a landmark collaboration to develop a $10 million or more competition designed to generate new ways to address the nation's serious health care system challenges.
As part of this collaboration, WellPoint and the X PRIZE Foundation will solicit participation from employers, health care providers, consumers, government partners and any other interested parties to develop competition guidelines that reflect the health care industry's most pressing challenges. In addition, WellPoint has committed to test the selected finalists' entries in its state markets, in order to test their ability to result in viable, creative and achievable health care system changes. Transparency will be emphasized throughout the process, from development of the prize to the conclusion of the competition. All results will be shared publicly, with the knowledge gained considered non-proprietary.
At this time, WellPoint, the WellPoint Foundation and the X PRIZE Foundation are announcing their intention to collaborate to develop a prize; the actual award amount, competition rules and guidelines are expected to be finalized in early 2009. More information about the competition is available at www.xprize.org/wellpoint.
