2025 Connectathon and FHIR Training SOW_forCALM (1).docx

January 7, 2025 Statement of Work 2025 CMS & HL7 FHIR Connectathon and FHIR Training

1. PURPOSE:

The purpose of this Statement of Work (SOW) is to have a contractor, Health Level Seven International (HL7), assist CMS with hosting a joint CMS & HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) Connectathon and provide specific HL7® FHIR® technical training to federal employees.

The CMS & HL7 FHIR Connectathon will support ongoing testing with internal and external stakeholders for the FHIR Implementation Guides (IGs) and Reference Implementations, and support testing of the FHIR specifications included in both the CMS Interoperability and Patient Access final rule (CMS-9119-F) and the CMS Interoperability and Prior Authorization final rule (CMS-0057-F). The 2025 CMS & HL7 FHIR Connectathon will be a hybrid event July 15-17, 2025, overseen by the Office of Healthcare Experience and Interoperability (OHEI) and the Health Informatics and Interoperability Group (HIIG). This will be the sixth year for the collaboration with HL7, and the second time it will be in person, since 2020.

The FHIR training portion of this contract will be virtual, and trainings will occur throughout the year. The education sessions will cover HL7 FHIR standards, IGs, and Reference Implementations which support implementation of the policies by industry as finalized by CMS. Policies include industry use of the FHIR-based APIs required or suggested for use in the CMS Interoperability and Patient Access final rule and the Interoperability and Prior Authorization final rule. In addition, several CMS groups are building FHIR APIs and using HL7 IGs in their work. The use of this standard is increasingly relevant to how CMS will both conduct its data exchange activities, as well as craft future policies. It will be important for the federal workforce to have a good understanding of the standard, its vocabulary and its application to effectively adopt or implement the standard. Throughout this contract period of performance, training will be scheduled by HIIG and will consist of up to six (6) one-hour training sessions structured for the audience and up to 20 hours of core FHIR Training, with the lengths of each session to be determined based on staff needs. Modifications to the structure of the sessions will be made as necessary for each audience.

2. BACKGROUND:

HL7® is an international, not-for-profit, American National Standards Institute (ANSI) accredited standards development organization (SDO), which develops and maintains standards for clinical information exchanged and used in electronic health systems. These standards have been adopted for use by many federal agencies, including the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy (ASTP)/Office of the National Coordinator (ONC), Agency for Health Research and Quality (AHRQ), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Department of Defense (DoD), the Social Security Administration, Veterans Affairs, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, among others. The HL7® FHIR® standard is one of many standards developed and maintained by HL7®. Expertise for developing the IGs, providing training, supporting testing environments and educational programs rests with HL7®. in The HIIG requires support from HL7® through both FHIR standard educational and experiential opportunities related to the CMS Interoperability and Patient Access final rule and the CMS Interoperability and Prior Authorization final rule. The use of the HL7® FHIR technical standard has been finalized in both the CMS and ASTP/ONC rules. Services being requested are the coordination, communication, educational, and hybrid (both in-person and Zoom) event services by HL7® to bring stakeholders to the 2025 CMS & HL7 FHIR Connectathon event to test the standard and IGs and their use cases. The services being requested under the training portion of this contract are training sessions for federal employees to learn about the FHIR standard and FHIR IGs in payer, patient, and provider workflows, and all related data exchanges.

3. SCOPE:

CMS has finalized adoption of the HL7® FHIR standard and adopted and recommended certain IGs in both the CMS Interoperability and Patient Access final rule and the CMS Interoperability and Prior Authorization final rule. CMS is dependent on HL7® as the SDO for creation and functionality of these IGs, as well as for educating stakeholders on their use and supporting testing between organizations to demonstrate the successful use of the guides in real world scenarios. This contract scope of work consists of two tasks: Task 1 for the 2025 CMS & HL7 FHIR Connectathon, and Task 2 for the HL7 FHIR Training.

Task 1: 2025 CMS & HL7 FHIR Connectathon Services being requested are support for the three-day hybrid 2025 CMS & HL7 FHIR Connectathon. The event will take place Tuesday-Thursday, July 15-17, 2025 with in-person programming occurring at the CMS Headquarters in the CMS Auditorium. Day 1 and Day 3 of the event will also have a hybrid portion allowing virtual attendees to join via CMS Zoom for Day 1 education/presentations and Day 3 track report outs/wrap-up sessions.

The individuals who will be attending the FHIR Connectathon are both the developers and users of the standards and IGs who can help ensure that the guides are implemented to meet policies of the final rule and that future policies can be developed to meet industry and implementer needs. The event will enable participants to learn more about the IGs, and to test enhancements before publication of an updated version.

Task 2: HL7 FHIR Training Services being requested are education and content preparation for FHIR training sessions for federal employees to learn about the FHIR standard and FHIR landscape (ONC FAST, DaVinci, other FHIR Accelerators, and the role of FHIR implementation guides in payer, patient and provider workflows, and all related data exchanges. The scope of the FHIR training task will include up to six (6) one hour (1-hour) training sessions, including one of those 1-hour sessions being dedicated to the federal Executive leadership level. The content of the 1-hour sessions will be tailored to the groups needs and specific use cases. In addition, the FHIR training task will include up to twenty (20) hours of FHIR Core Training, with lengths of each session to be determined based on the respective training group/audience.

The individuals who will be attending the virtual FHIR training sessions are CMS or other federal agency employees who have a diverse range of knowledge of FHIR IGs and the FHIR landscape. Additional education is required to ensure a greater understanding of the standards and their capabilities for data exchange and broader use.

· 1-hour FHIR Training-specific to the audience needs

· Up to six (6) 1 hour training sessions

· One (1) of the 1 hour training sessions should be geared towards an Executive leadership level audience

· FHIR Core Training

· Up to 20 hours total of FHIR Core Training

· Length of each session could vary based on audience needs and scheduling requests, not to exceed a total of 20 hours of training

4. ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES:

Task 1: 2025 CMS & HL7 FHIR Connectathon HL7® is providing the materials, services, and expertise in connection with this Agreement as an independent contractor. HL7® and any third parties it contracts with are responsible for taxes on amounts they receive in connection with the contract. Specific tasks for which HL7® is responsible are:

· Coordination of the event, communication, coordinating speakers, registration, in-person support, and activities including:

· On-site support for check-in and logistics of the three-day event

· Share Zoom links with presenters and virtual attendees for the hybrid portion of the conference. Note - CMS Zoom will be used.

· Establish website access for registration through HL7

· Secure and schedule all speakers for educational tracks and any necessary pre-program events

· Create and maintain the agenda for the three days of the event

· Provide Zoom training for speakers, if necessary

· Confirm all tracks, track leads, and coordinate track orientation for each registered Connectathon track

· Assist in setting up any Zoom sessions and break out rooms for the event

· Record all sessions via CMS Zoom platform and upload recordings to the HL7 Education website

· Marketing to promote the event through HL7 and appropriate social media accounts; monitor social media activity

· Collect speaker slides and provide to CMS after the event

· Send confirmation emails to registrants

· Provide a list of registrants’ names to CMS

· Make track report-out recordings available for download (through special access code)

· Conduct a post event survey and provide results to CMS event lead

Task 2: HL7 FHIR Training HL7® is providing the expertise, content, materials, and services in connection with this Agreement as an independent contractor. HL7® and any third parties it contracts with are responsible for taxes on amounts they receive in connection with the contract. Specific tasks for which HL7® is responsible are:

· Coordination of the training program, communication, speakers, virtual meeting tool (if necessary, can use CMS Zoom), and activities including:

· Develop the substantive content for the HL7 FHIR training sessions

· Create and maintain the agenda for each training session

· Conduct the training

· Provide training material to trainees that explains and supports information shared during the program

· Conduct evaluations following the training

Period of Performance:

Date of award through one year.

CONTACTS:

Contracting Officers Representative (COR) Shanna Hartman 410-786-0092 shanna.hartman@cms.hhs.gov

Contract Specialist (CS) Renee Wallace-Abney 410-786-5128 renee.wallaceabney@cms.hhs.gov

Contracting Officer (CO) Phillip Harrell 410-786-8635 Phillip.Harrell@cms.hhs.gov

5. PRIVACY ACT:

This Agreement has been reviewed for Privacy Act implications. All parties agree to maintain compliance with the provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974 and applicable systems security requirements.

INFORMATION SECURITY: The Federal Information Security Act (FISMA) requires all federal agencies to protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of federal information and information systems from unauthorized access disclosure, duplication, modification, diversion, destruction, loss, misuse or theft whether accidental or intentional. The security controls to provide the protections shall be risk-based and business-driven with implementation achieved through a defense-in depth structure. Access to all information shall be limited on a least privilege and a needto-know basis. Guidance on implementing the requirements of FISMA can be found in:

· The Office of Management and Budget (0MB) Circular No. A-130, revised. "Management of Federal Information Resources" ; Appendix III, " Security of Federal Information Systems" (http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars ), CMS Information Security and Privacy Contract Requirements CMS includes an Information Security clause/provision to safeguard information and information systems that support the operations and assets of the agency, including those provided or managed by contractors (including subcontractors) on behalf of the agency. Click here for more information: http://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/CMS-Information-Technology/InformationSecurity/Information-Security-Library.html

7. SECTION 508 Information and Community Technology Under the revised 508 compliance requirements, when providing hosting services for electronic content provided by the agency, the offeror shall not implement the hosting services in a manner that reduces the existing level of conformance of the electronic content with applicable Revised 508 Standards. Throughout the life of the contract, the agency reserves the right to perform testing on a vendor or contractor's hosted solution to verify conformance with this requirement.

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