There’s $20,000 up for grabs at this year’s Independence/Jefferson Health Hack

The “new Jefferson” keeps aiming to shake things up.

For the second year in a row, the Center City-based teaching hospital is partnering with Independence Blue Cross to delve deep into Philly’s dev talent pool with the Jefferson/Independence Health Hack, which is happening Nov. 4-6.

The hackathon is offering $20,000 in cash prizes spread across three tracks:

• Patient engagement
• Connected health
• Virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR)

For this year’s edition, organizers again partnered with makerspace NextFab to offer a dual-site kinda thing: contestants can travel back and forth between the event’s primary site (Jefferson’s Hamilton Building) and NextFab’s Washington Avenue location to have access to laser cutters, woodworking tools and more.

The @healthhackphl tracks are Patient Engagement; Connected Health; Virtual/Augmented Reality: https://t.co/7WchrAzKjb. #healthhackphl

— Jefferson (@JeffersonUniv) October 16, 2016

“We are honored again to be able to help Jefferson’s community of health care practitioners and students germinate their insights into vital real-world applications,” said NextFab founder Evan Malone.

Ultimaker, manufacturers of 3D printing devices, will also offer on-site printing service for participants.

So what is Jefferson expecting to get out of the 2016 hackathon? Why keep doing it? Robert Pugliese, codirector of Jefferson’s JeffDESIGN said the OG medical institution was looking forward to host around 250 participants during the event, but was more about psyched about the solutions that the weekend could yield.

“We’re excited to tap into the collective experiences of the Philadelphia community and beyond to solve complex problems in healthcare,” Pugliese said.