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The agency wants much faster evidence analysis, but speed is only one judging factor. Two coordinated competitions will accept submissions in 2027.
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The program separates a high-stakes evidence-review contest from a database-application sprint, giving entrants two different routes into federally backed healthcare AI. The evidence track seeks systems that can compress reviews taking a year or more into hours, but that is an objective, not a proven capability; judging also weighs accuracy, reproducibility, throughput and usability. With submissions in 2027 and eligibility open to individuals, teams, businesses and nonprofits, the initiative creates a substantial public-sector testbed for tools built around evidence synthesis and AHRQ data.
The evidence challenge offers up to five Phase 1 finalists $100,000 each, followed by a $5.35 million prize for one Phase 2 winner.
The database-focused SI Tech Sprint has a $2.1 million prize pool for selected winners rather than a single grand-prize recipient.
AHRQ confirms March 12, 2027, as the evidence challenge's Phase 1 deadline and September 9, 2027, as the tech sprint deadline.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is offering up to $7.95 million in prizes for AI work on medical evidence and healthcare data. Announced October 7, 2026, the two-part initiative targets faster evaluation of medical research and applications using the agency’s databases, with competition submissions scheduled for 2027.
The Clinical Evidence Synthesis Transformation Challenge focuses on evaluating medical evidence. AHRQ says it aims to reduce analysis that can take a year or more to hours. That is the competition’s ambition, not a demonstrated result from a winning system. The agency is seeking submissions to deliver that change.
Finalists will be judged on accuracy, throughput, reproducibility, usability and ease of operation. Those criteria put the volume of work a system can handle alongside whether its results can be reproduced and whether people can readily use it.
The evidence challenge has two phases. According to the American Hospital Association, up to five finalists will receive $100,000 each after the first phase. One winner will receive $5.35 million after the second, making the final award the largest single payout described for this initiative.
This challenge will benefit American patients by improving healthcare quality and value, ensuring they receive health services that work while avoiding unnecessary or even harmful care.
Roger D. Klein, AHRQ director
The second component, the SI Tech Sprint for Healthcare Research and Implementation Quality and Safety, targets AHRQ’s cost, utilization and quality databases. Its purpose is to support applications for research, quality improvement and public access. The AHA puts its prize pool at $2.1 million for selected winners, rather than one grand-prize recipient.
AHRQ calls the combined effort the Super Intelligence for Healthcare Improvement Initiative. The agency says it follows President Donald Trump’s September 29, 2026, executive order, Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence.
The invitation extends to individuals, teams, businesses and nonprofit entities. AHRQ explicitly encourages nontraditional participants to compete. The two tracks have different submission windows, and the agency has scheduled an informational webinar for the database-focused sprint before either window opens.
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