Hacking Health

Hacking Health is a social organization that pairs innovators with healthcare experts to build solutions to front-line healthcare problems through the use of emerging technology. Hacking Health is sponsored by Nightingale Informatix Corporation, Business Development Bank of Canada and Microsoft.

History
The organization started off in Montreal, Quebec (Canada) in 2012 with a weekend-long hackathon to encourage collaboration between healthcare professionals and IT experts.

Since then, Hacking Health events have been held in Toronto, Vancouver and Edmonton. Upcoming events are scheduled for 2014 in Calgary, Montreal and Hamilton.

Core Components
Hacking Health currently consists of three core components: HH Hackathon, HH Cafe and HH Consult.

Held over a weekend, Hackathons consist of 200-300 participants where designers and developers collaborate with doctors, nurses, clinic managers and other healthcare professionals to develop prototypes that can be put to test in clinics and hospitals. The event also attracts industry professionals, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs.

Hacking Health Cafe is a series of monthly evening events to bring together entrepreneurs in the healthcare industry and foster relationships between technology talent and healthcare experts. These shorter, casual events help interested parties stay up-to-date on local collaborations, projects and start-ups.

Hacking Health Consult offers consultation services to health-IT start-ups.