AHRQ Opens $7.95 Million Healthcare AI Prize Competition

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality launches a two part healthcare AI competition offering up to $7.95 million in prizes, the agency said in a press release. The competition covers clinical evidence synthesis and applications built with AHRQ healthcare databases.

The Clinical Evidence Synthesis Transformation Challenge offers a grand prize of up to $5.35 million. Entrants must create systems that evaluate medical evidence, with finalists judged on accuracy, throughput, reproducibility, usability and ease of operation. AHRQ said the technology could reduce analysis times from a year or more to hours.

The second part, called the SI Tech Sprint for Healthcare Research and Implementation Quality and Safety, focuses on tools that use AHRQ data on healthcare costs, use and quality. Individuals, teams, companies and nonprofit organizations can enter. Clinical evidence challenge submissions are due March 12, 2027, while Tech Sprint submissions are due September 9, 2027.