It used to be that preventing heart disease was no game. But now, not only can it be a game, but that game is part of an award-winning mobile telephone application.

“Heart Health Mobile,” developed by the Marshfield (Wis.) Clinic's Research Foundation, was named winner of the Million Hearts Risk Check Challenge, a competition launched in July by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.

The app evaluates a person's risk for heart disease based on answers to questions on weight, blood pressure, diabetes, smoking and other factors. It also provides locations for cholesterol and blood-pressure screenings. People can also track their weight, blood pressure and cholesterol levels using the app, and participate in a game where points are awarded for reaching health targets.

“Our goal with Heart Health Mobile was to develop an app that can help people live healthier lives,” Dr. Simon Lin, app project leader and director of the Research Foundation's Biomedical Informatics Research Center, said in a news release. “The app gives people a fun, interactive tool that lets them track key risk factors for heart attacks and strokes, while monitoring improvement.”

The foundation will receive $100,000, which will be used for supporting development of the app that is currently available for free at the online Apple App Store for use on Apple iPads, iPhones and iPod Touch devices. A Web-based version will be released early next month that can be used on other devices, according to the release. Other sponsors included the Surescripts electronic prescribing network, HHS’ Million Hearts initiative and Archimedes, a San Francisco-based provider of human physiology simulation model software. The Heart Health app will be the first consumer use of the Archimedes’ IndiGO program used by physicians, according to an Archimedes news release.

“The Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation has created an app to give people easy access to some of the most advanced healthcare analytics available to learn the factors that put them at risk for heart attacks and how to prevent them,” Dr. Farzad Mostashari, national coordinator for health IT, said in an HHS news release. “People can now get information about their risk and share what they know with their doctor to better manage their heart health.”

The Marshfield Clinic has a long history of being ahead of the field with information technology. Its CattailsMD electronic health record was the first “home-grown” EHR product to be certified by the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology.

Last month, a Chicago marketing and design company called Gravity Tank won an ONC- and Veteran Affairs Department-sponsored health record graphic design contest . Interested parties have until April 29 to participate in Mobilizing Data for Pressure Ulcer Prevention Challenge, another ONC competition that calls for developing an app to help with the prevention, early detection and management of bed sores. A $60,000 prize will go the winners, the second-place finisher will get $15,000, and there is a $5,000 third-place prize.