Patient Matching Aggregation and Linking Pilot (PMAL)

The Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration established this Master IDIQ on September 18, 2015, to support clinical data research networks in testing and piloting patient matching, aggregation, and linking initiatives under the Patient Centered Outcome Research Network (CORNET) program. The vehicle's ordering period closed on December 9, 2018, and no new orders can be placed; this vehicle is no longer active for pursuit.

The vehicle's scope centers on identifying patient attributes for standardized matching across clinical and claims datasets, developing algorithms for reliable patient matching, and creating Privacy and Security API specification guides, reference implementations, and profiles for real-time patient linking. Pilot testing and validation involve open participation from health IT vendors, security leaders, and clinical data research networks.

Activity on this vehicle was concentrated and brief. Four task orders were awarded between September 2015 and September 2016, with $2.1 million obligated against a combined potential value of $2.9 million. Two prime contractors—Audacious Inquiry LLC and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals—each received two orders, splitting the workload evenly by count but not by value; Audacious Inquiry held $2.3 million in combined potential value compared to Kaiser Foundation's $576 thousand. All orders funded the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration, indicating no multi-agency customer base. Three of the four orders were unrestricted; one was 8(a) sole-source.

Task-order values ranged from approximately $21 thousand to $2.3 million in ceiling value. Work was performed as firm fixed price and labor-hours contracts with ultimate completion dates between mid-2017 and September 2021. The vehicle has been dormant for more than seven years; no new pursuit opportunities exist.

The purpose of this Master IDIQ is to support the engagement of clinical data research network (CDRN) and their node in the testing and piloting of various tasks associated with the Patient Matching Aggregation and Linking (PMAL) initiative funded to support the Patient Centered Outcome Research Network (CORNET). The PMAL initiative will identify the best patient attributes to standardize for matching patients to their data across clinical, and claims data sets, and identify algorithms that can be used to reliably perform patient matching in these contexts. PMAL will also enable the development of Privacy and Security Application Program Interfaces APIs (P & S API) specification guides and artifacts (reference implementations, profiles and developer resources) that will describe the technical infrastructure necessary to enable real-time linking and matching of patients with associated claims and clinical data. Reference implementations and profiles will be need to be piloted and tested with the open participation of the health IT community, industry leaders in security and subject matter experts and the CDRNs. The resulting standards and tool sets will safely match patients to their information, make additional medical resources available to providers and practitioners and grant researchers timely access to clinical data