Marlborough, Mass. October 13, 2016) -- Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX) today announced a worldwide call for submissions to the second annual Boston Scientific Connected Patient Challenge, an open competition to drive meaningful innovations that address complex healthcare challenges. This year’s competition will focus on the role of data analytics and big data in optimizing patient care and healthcare efficiency.

“Big data is about using technology to analyze and understand huge volumes of healthcare-related data routinely generated — by devices, by providers and by the healthcare industry overall — and turning it into actionable intelligence,” said Dave Knapp, Ph.D., vice president, Corporate Research, Boston Scientific and one of the live event’s judges. “We hope to inspire new digital health solutions with this event.”

Entrants will compete for up to $50,000 in in-kind support to advance submitted concepts. Competition entries will be hosted on Medstro, an interactive social media platform for physicians, where members of the general community can ask questions, share feedback and vote to advance submissions to the finalist stage. Interested parties can apply at the Connected Patient Challenge website until January 15, 2017. Finalists will be honored at a live event in Cambridge, MA, on March 9, 2017 where they will present their ideas to fellow participants, a live audience and a panel of judges.

“Solving the most pressing problems in medicine requires collaboration between physicians, industry and the general public,” said Jim Ryan, chief operating officer of Medstro. “Initiatives like the Connected Patient Challenge help to improve healthcare, and have the ability to generate truly disruptive concepts that can change how care is delivered.”

The inaugural Connected Patient Challenge, held in March 2016 and co-sponsored by Google, focused on the role of remote patient monitoring technologies in influencing patient outcomes. Finalists ranged from a method for Emergency Room physicians to rule out an impending heart attack for patients presenting with chest pain, to a reminder and tracking system for patients in India undergoing treatment for Tuberculosis. The winning entry, a GPS-based watch with phone capabilities designed by Boston-area company WatchRx, is designed to remind the elderly to take their medications, enable two-way communication between patients and caregivers and provide tracking capabilities. The company used the award to help advance the device toward clinical trials.

*Note: Employees of Boston Scientific Corporation, the principal sponsor, will not be eligible to submit ideas. However, they will not be excluded from commenting on or adding to ideas submitted by other participants.

About Boston Scientific

Boston Scientific transforms lives through innovative medical solutions that improve the health of patients around the world.  As a global medical technology leader for more than 35 years, we advance science for life by providing a broad range of high performance solutions that address unmet patient needs and reduce the cost of healthcare. For more information, visit www.bostonscientific.com and connect on Twitter and Facebook.