MEDHOST Hackathon 2021 Recap

Each year MEDHOST hosts an innovation event inviting all associates from across the organization to team up, design, and develop new products or processes in an intensive, agile-style development workshop culminating with a sales pitch to executives for consideration.

Whether creating brand-new solutions to meet customer needs, features to optimize current offerings, or processes that enhance internal MEDHOST operations, MEDHOST Hackathon promotes employee engagement that drives product development, employee growth, and knowledge sharing across departments. Among other prizes and recognition, the winning team utilizes paid time to step away from their assigned responsibilities to finalize the development and packaging of their solution.

Like years past, the MEDHOST 2021 Hackathon did not disappoint.

How it All Went Down

Twelve teams made up of individuals with varying backgrounds and skillsets came together with an idea for innovation. Software developers traditionally make up hackathon participants, but nearly 50% of contributors came from areas outside of product development this year.

Each team of two to four members submitted a project idea before the event. With approval, team members stepped out of their daily responsibilities for four days to develop a working prototype, generate a return-on-investment financial impact analysis, and create a sales pitch to be delivered to a panel of judges.

About MEDHOST Hackathon Teams

All twelve teams demonstrated a vast knowledge of MEDHOST culture, systems, and customer needs. After the conclusion of each eight-minute presentation, Q&A time was allowed for the judges to ask questions. Then, teams enjoyed a celebration lunch together while the judges conferred in private to select a winner.

Meet the Judges

Judging the teams were MEDHOST senior leaders:

• Bill Anderson, Chairman and CEO
• Ken Misch, President
• Rick Brown, CTO
• Holly Evans, SVP, Strategic Accounts
• Stacey Holman, VP, Product Development

And the Winners Are…!

With all the scores tallied, MediCloud emerged as the overall victor. Team MediCloud consisted of Joshua Shaver, Ajay Boolchandani, Ryan Cook, and Abhishek Arohi.

MediCloud's winning submission proposed moving the Medi-Span application to the cloud. By placing this vital system in a cloud environment for each customer, MEDHOST could increase the reliability of the overall solution and cut down on costs.

There were also four runners-up:

• SAFER Together – Shannon Kearney Lyons, Belen Gibilaro, Jay Peeler, and Adam Walls
• Team Automatic – Ralph Hayes, Matt Nobles, Mark McCaghren, and Sam Hasting
• Team PI – Zak Munchoor, Nilesh Purohit, Sagar Shah, and Vikram Warudkar)
• The Reagents – Claudine Bruyns, Justin Gossett, Jason Brown

This year, a special award for process improvement went to STARgazer - Cody Worf, Ricky Crabtree, and Jennifer Parrott.

A big thank you to everyone who helped make Hackathon 2021 a smashing success. We are truly grateful to have a team of so many individuals who share our passion for improving care and helping MEDHOST offer an even greater value to our employees and healthcare partners.

Till next year!