Enter Pioneer Institute’s 2016 Better Government Competition – Winning Prize: $10,000!
Enter the 2016 Better Government Competition
Each year, Pioneer Institute’s Better Government Competition focuses on one of the country’s biggest challenges. For 2016, Pioneer seeks innovative ideas to improve quality and access to care for individuals living with mental illness. We invite you to submit entries on innovative approaches to insurance, health care, human services and partnerships between government agencies and mental health care providers. Sample topics are listed below.
An independent panel of judges will select a winner, who will receive a $10,000 prize, and four runners-up, who will each receive a $1,000 prize. In addition, Pioneer will select four entrants for Special Recognition. At a June awards dinner, Pioneer will honor and highlight all of the winners. Their entries will be published and distributed to policy makers and opinion leaders across the country, so that their ideas can be replicated.
What is the Better Government Competition?
The Better Government Competition is an annual idea contest that attracts the interest of experts and ordinary citizens alike. Since 1991, the Competition has served as a forum that rewards and promotes the nation’s most innovative policy ideas. Implementation of the Competition’s winning entries has saved Massachusetts well over half-a-billion dollars, and has driven numerous changes in state and federal policy.
Learn more about past winners.
Improving the Quality and Access to Care for Individuals Living with Mental Illness
The 2016 competition seeks proposals to improve quality and access to care for individuals living with mental health illness, through unique approaches to insurance, health care, human services and partnerships between government agencies and mental health care providers. Competitive submissions will cite examples of similar approaches that are currently in place; discuss the costs and benefits of your approach compared to current practice; note potential obstacles to implementation, and address the potential for replication in Massachusetts.
Download the 2016 Guidelines and submit your entry.
- Institute more effective early crisis intervention and youth preventive programs that promote awareness, improve access to resources for families and provide early screening, risk assessment, diagnosis and treatment to prevent the onset or mitigate crises in high-risk cases.
- Revise existing regulations to eliminate inter-agency barriers to information sharing and improve access to patient data for practitioners and other stakeholders.
- Reform funding incentives to improve continuity of care in mental health services, integrate treatment in care settings and encourage practitioners to work with at-risk populations.
- Employ creative financing mechanisms to expand community health center options and facilitate improved quality and continuity of care in both inpatient and outpatient mental health services.
- Facilitate proven peer-led programs and services that help patients navigate complex health care bureaucracies and delivery systems.
Should I Enter?
The Competition grand prize winner is awarded $10,000; three runners-up receive $1,000 each. Pioneer also selects four entrants to receive special recognition.
The contest is open to all people and organizations – colleges and universities, non-profits, entrepreneurs, government officials, and interested citizens. Pioneer Institute can provide quality entrants with the resources to develop their ideas. We protect the identity of those preferring anonymity.
How Do I Enter?
Submit an idea paper of five or fewer pages describing the problem you’re addressing and your solution. The “idea” can be a new concept or a recently implemented program that shows promising results. We may seek further information regarding your proposal. Papers of up to five (5) pages are due by Monday, March 14th, 2016 at 4:00 pm ET.
Three Ways to Enter:
- Submit online
- Submit by email: bgc@pioneerinstitute.org (include your paper as an attachment)
- Submit by mail to: Shawni Littlehale, Director, Better Government Competition, Pioneer Institute, 185 Devonshire Street, Suite 1101, Boston, MA 02110
Submit your Better Government Compeitition entry today!
Questions?
Shawni Littlehale
Director, Better Government Competition
P: 617-723-2277 ext. 207
Email:
slittlehale@pioneerinstitute.org
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