36C24818Q0345-004.pdf

Attachment D: Statement of Need

The contractor shall provide a POC clinical information subscription which addresses the following needs:

a. Summaries and recommendations are provided, giving very specific and summarized statements that allow for ease of readability;

b. User-friendly login and search engine;

c. Efficiency, timeliness, and ease of navigation through search results;

d. Comprehensive disease state information, management, diagnosis, and treatment;

e. Summary of new or changing therapies with new clinical guidelines are added within 7 business days;

f. Links to full text articles;

g. Tools to aid in information retrieval assessment (e.g. medical calculators, tables, graphics);

h. Platform to easily record, track, and redeem CME/CE credits with each topic review;

i. Vendor-provided original patient information at a basic level (two levels of reading level is preferred);

j. Sources are from vendor produced and updated information;

k. Different types of treatment are clearly labeled within the table of contents;

l. Content covers pathophysiology, diagnosis, prognosis, etiology, laboratory tests, and recommended treatment of medical conditions with grading of evidence, if appropriate;

m. Provides content that is synthesized into clear and concise answers;

n. Provides information about laboratory tests including normative values, contraindications and risks.

o. Continuing Medical Education (CME) included: Users shall be able to track CME activity after establishing an account as provided by the contractor. All username/password and account maintenance shall be the responsibility of the contractor. Accreditation providers shall include a majority of the following:

1. Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME).

2. American Medical Association (AMA).

3. American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP).

4. American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

5. American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA).

6. American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP).

7. American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP).

8. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).

9. American Osteopathic Association (AOA).

10. American Midwifery Certification Board (AMCB).

11. National Board of Certification and Recertification of Nurse Anesthetists (NBCRNA).

p. Maintenance of Certification (MOC) included: Users shall be able to track MOC activity after maintenance shall be the responsibility of the contractor. Accreditation providers shall include a majority of the following:

1. American Board of Internal Medicine.

2. American Board of Medical Specialties MOC Directory.

q. MOC Part II CME Activity included: Users shall be able to track MOC Part II CME activity after maintenance shall be the responsibility of the contractor. Accreditation providers shall include a majority of the following:

1. American Board of Allergy and Immunology.

2. American Board of Anesthesiology.

3. American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery.

4. American Board of Family Medicine.

5. American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

6. American Board of Preventive Medicine.

7. American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

8. American Board of Thoracic Surgery.

9. American Board of Surgery.

r. The contractor shall provide 24/7 license rights for immediate access to multiple simultaneous users from any web-enabled computer and mobile device.

s. Point of care tool should be accessible in mobile version and downloadable as an application (app).

t. The app should be at minimum compatible for iOS and Android systems.

u. The database shall provide multiple simultaneous users, via one interface and one search platform, extensive evidence-based and peer-reviewed information on the following specialty areas including, but not limited to:

1. Adult Emergency Medicine.

2. Adult Primary Care and Internal Medicine.

3. Allergy and Immunology.

4. Anesthesiology.

5. Cardiovascular Medicine.

6. Dermatology.

7. Endocrinology and Diabetes.

8. Family Medicine and General Practice.

9. Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

10. General Surgery.

11. Geriatrics.

12. Hematology.

13. Hospice and Palliative Care.

14. Hospital Medicine.

15. Infectious Diseases.

16. Nephrology and Hypertension.

17. Neurology.

18. Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women’s Health.

19. Oncology.

20 Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine.

v. Content presentation and provision shall be appropriate for a large-scale teaching hospital’s usage and relevant to its medical education curriculum. Content shall be appropriate to use in the development of an educational curriculum, not solely developed for the practicing physicians’ use.

w. Content shall be presented with/in a scholarly based approach. It shall be developed and presented with concise and expansive evidence-based information and not in a “recipe book” or “short answer” format.

x. Content shall provide insight to an understanding of the clinical application of the diagnosis and treatment of specialty areas in medicine.

y. Content must be in a narrative format suitable for health sciences students, residents, and fellows to educate themselves on point of care/clinical topics.

z. An overall academic basis approach is required in the presentation and content of the clinical information.

aa. Theory/Clinical Insights/Understanding methods are presented and included in the content provided.

bb. The POC information shall be written for a wide range of health professionals, but is targeted to internal medicine and related specialists. Designed to provide concise, practical answers (with recommendations with lists of evidence grades), the topics are written exclusively for clinicians in a minimum of 17 different medical specialties.

cc. Content is comprised of topic reviews written by recognized physician experts who address specific topics, synthesize research and make recommendations for treatment in their area of expertise.

dd. For content written by participating physicians, a wide range of medical journals are searched regularly along with the biomedical databases and hand-searching of the literature.

ee. Content shall be written and reviewed by expert physicians in their specialty and peer-reviewed by other experts in the specialty. Credentials and affiliations of the authors and reviews shall be included in the content, and potential conflicts of interest clearly delineated. Authors or content experts for each section shall be recognizable as experts in that field.

ff. Components of the clinical topic review (diseases, conditions, symptoms, and other presentations) shall include the following information fields:

1. Date of record/review update for each entry.

2. Author(s)/editor(s) of record/review update for each entry.

3. Author(s)/editor(s) credentials for each entry.

4. Author(s)/editor(s) affiliation of record/review update for each entry.

5. Specialty peer reviewer(s), credentials & affiliation of record/review update for each entry.

6. General Information/Overview.

7. Epidemiology/Incidence/Prevalence/Causes/Risk Factors.

8. Pathophysiology.

9. Diagnosis/Prognosis/Treatment/Laboratory Tests/Complications/Prevention/Screening.

10. Information for patients written at different levels to meet the varying needs of patients.

11. Hyperlinks to MEDLINE abstracts within the body of the record and in record/review references section.

12. Graphics (figures, pictures, graphs, tables, etc.) integrated into record/review that can be printed or exported.

13. References/Guidelines section with hyperlinks to MEDLINE abstracts.

14. Hyperlinks to related record/review topics.

15. Summary/Recommendations with grading.

gg. Ability and ease of remote connection.

hh. Updates of content at no additional cost.

ii. Static URL for access within Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) IP firewall and account login and password for access outside DVA IP firewall.

jj. The electronic reference must be easily accessible remotely by mobile devices and non-VA equipment for employees of the DVA.

kk. The contractor shall provide usage statistics upon request within three (3) business days. The format of the usage statistics is provided either via email or contractor provided login username/password and shall include session count, search count, total document retrievals per title, top topics searched, method of access (onsite, remote, mobile), and a breakdown by IP/medical center is required.

ll. The contractor shall conduct online national webinars and provide online tutorials upon request.

mm. If a plug-in, additional software or recommended software is required for optimal use, specific requirements must be included. Contractor shall address any questions or problems encountered when using this product with supported software or hardware.

nn. Contractor shall provide technical support telephone numbers and email addresses. Customer service shall be available to troubleshoot website/connectivity issues via telephone and email within less than two (2) business days response.

oo. Maintain multiple layers of redundancy to assure consistent availability with web farms located in several locations - (worldwide redundant servers etc to ensure availability in case of a disaster).