Attachment_J.10-A_SOW_TO_0002.pdf

Attachment J.10-A SOW TO 0002

Measure & Instrument Development and Support

(MIDS)

Statement of Work

Task Order 0002

Hospital Quality Initiatives (HQI)

Public Reporting Support

SECTION C – DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS/WORK STATEMENT

C.1 STATEMENT OF WORK

CHAPTER 1. SCOPE

1.A. – Background

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is the federal agency tasked with overseeing a variety of health care programs, including Medicare and Medicaid.

The Agency strives to ensure that the American public receives the highest quality healthcare, consisting of personalized, prevention-oriented, and patient-centered care, based on evidence based clinical guidelines and best practices. There currently exist gaps in the quality of care provided for certain groups of individuals, such as low income or patients with multiple chronic conditions. CMS has determined that in order to drive performance improvement and the closing of these care gaps, the development, maintenance and public reporting and related activities of quality measures is required.

CMS carries out this mission by requiring the development, implementation, maintenance and public reporting of quality measures for many different care areas including inpatient acute care hospitals, Outpatient Departments, Ambulatory Surgical Centers, Inpatient Psychiatric Facilities, special cancer hospitals and others.

CMS seeks to utilize this contract mechanism to provide support for CMS to publicly report quality measure data on the Hospital Compare website and others, as authorized by various pieces of legislation. The tasks under this statement of work shall be performed under an Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract. Such work shall be performed by one or more Measure and Instrument Development and Support (MIDS) Contractors. This Task Order (TO) is a Small Business Set-Aside.

This TO Statement of Work (SOW) adheres to all tasks within the MIDS IDIQ Statement of Work (SOW) chapters. Those activities not specifically described in the MIDS IDIQ SOW shall be specified in this TO SOW. Those activities/tasks within the MIDS IDIQ SOW that are excluded or not required for this TO SOW shall be noted within this TO

SOW.

1.B. Purpose The purpose of this TO SOW is to obtain the services to perform duties to support the Center for Clinical Quality and Standards (CCSQ), Quality Measure and Value Incentives Group (QMVIG), for the Division of Quality Measurement (DQM) in measure implementation and public reporting for the Hospital Quality Initiative (HQI). The HQI was authorized by the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act (MMA) of 2003, and the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 2005 giving the Secretary the authority to collect quality measure data from subsection D hospitals and publicly report the results of those quality measures on a website as determined by the Secretary under the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program (IQR), formerly known as the Reporting Hospital Quality Data for Annual Payment Update (RHQDAPU). The Tax Relief & Health Care Act (TRHCA) of 2006 further authorized the Secretary to expand https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/search.html?

the program to subsection d Hospital Outpatient Departments (OQR) and Ambulatory Surgical Centers (ASCQR). Further expansion of the program occurred under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 adding authority for CMS to pay hospitals based on the performance of the quality measure data under the Hospital Value Based Purchasing Program (HVBP), Prospective Payment System Exempt Cancer Hospital Quality Reporting Program (PCH), Inpatient Psychiatric Facility Quality Reporting Program (IPF), Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP), and the Hospital Acquired Conditions Quality Reporting Program (HACRP). Along with the expansion to eight (8) quality programs, the ACA tasked the Secretary to determine a method to display the multiple complex quality measures in a way that was easy for consumers, such as use of Star Ratings. The Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating was added to Hospital Compare in July 2016, using data that is publicly reported on the website as well as other criteria that can be found on the Quality Net website.

CHAPTER 2. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

In accordance with (IAW) Chapter 2 of the MIDS IDIQ SOW, the Contractor shall carry out all work/tasks described in sections 2.A -2.F.

The Measure & Instrument Development and Support (MIDS) Contractor shall also complete the additional requirements listed here:

2.A. - Basic Requirements

a) The contractor shall furnish the necessary qualified expertise as listed under Key Personnel, which shall be provided in the Proposal.

b) CMS uses Lean processing to continuously improve processes in order to gain efficiencies. The work under this TO is no exception. The Contractor is encouraged to provide innovative recommendations for gaining efficiencies with public reporting.

2.B. - Fundamental Activities The contractor shall perform all public reporting activities under this section of the IDIQ

SOW.

2.C. – Coordination The contractor shall perform all public reporting activities under this section of the IDIQ SOW, with the addition of the following items:

The Contractor shall provide administrative and logistical support to the following regularly occurring meetings:

a. Weekly Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) update calls (52/year, 5 lines)

b. Monthly Hospital Communication and Coordination Workgroup (HCCW) (12/yr,20 phone lines)

c. Bi-weekly Hospital Compare CMS and Contractors (24/yr,50 phone lines)

In accordance with these tasks, the contractor shall:

• Prepare meeting agendas, meeting minutes, reports and briefing materials including tracking decisions and action items from meetings, disseminating https://share.cms.gov/center/CCSQ/QMHAG/DHMM/programs/Star%20Ratings/Forms/AllItems.aspxhttps:/www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/search.html?

https://www.qualitynet.org/dcs/ContentServer?c=Page&pagename=QnetPublic%2FPage%2FQnetTier2&cid=1228775183434 information to relevant participants, and researching information to determine the root cause of specific issues;

• Maintain a tracker of all defects and status of investigating their root causes, resource loss and impacts to schedule amongst all of the various data providers;

• Maintain an active “Roadmap” of upcoming website deliverables, outlining all of the new measures to be added to the site as well as measures to be removed or refreshed;

• The Contractor shall also coordinate meetings with external entities (e.g., Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Department of Defense (DoD)) and internal entities (e.g., CMS components, CMS Contractors, CMS management) related to the development of public reporting requirements, Investment Life Cycle (ILC) and the Expedited Life Cycle (XLC) processes.

• The Contractor shall budget for up to five (5) ad hoc meetings per month for which the Contractor shall provide administrative support.

Deliverable 2-6: Meeting Agendas - Coordination with external and internal entities to gather agenda items. Develop and prepare agendas and provide to appropriate stakeholders within two (2) business days before each meeting.

Deliverable 2-7: Meeting Minutes-approved final minutes distributed within five (5) business days of the meeting.

2.C.1. - Other MIDS Contractors

SOW, with the addition of the following items:

• The Contractor shall host one (1) Joint Accountability Determination (JAD) meeting per year and three (3) timeline alignment meeting per year.

o JAD

a) The JAD shall be scheduled on an annual basis before the April Hospital Compare release and in alignment with the Hospital Quality Reporting (HQR) Program Increment (PI) schedule. The purpose of the meeting is to focus on strategic planning for the upcoming public reporting quarters, data flow, data integrity, business requirements or other topics as specified by CMS.

b) The JAD shall last one business day and will be held at the CMS Central Office or other location as specified.

c) Attendees shall include CMS staff, external data providers and their Contractors involved in public reporting.

d) The Contractor shall coordinate and gather agenda items and other supporting documentation, develop agenda, and take minutes. The Contractor shall provide approved documents to attendees in person and set up a Webinar for those who cannot attend in person.

o Timeline Alignment Meetings

a) Each quarter, other than the quarter in which the JAD will be hosted, the Contractor shall coordinate a Timeline Alignment meeting.

b) These meetings shall be coordinated with the HQR contractor’s Program Increment meetings.

c) Attendees shall include CMS staff, external data providers and their Contractors involved in public reporting.

d) The Timeline Alignment Meeting shall be no longer than 1 business day, and no shorter than four (4) hours, depending on the agenda.

e) The Contractor shall coordinate and gather agenda items and other supporting documentation, develop agenda, and take minutes. The Contractor shall provide approved documents to attendees and set up a Webinar and teleconference number for those who cannot attend in person.

Deliverable 2-8: JAD Preparation Coordination with external and internal entities to gather agenda items. In general, about 30 participants attend the JAD in person. Develop and prepare agendas and documents for dissemination to the group five (5) business days before the meeting.

Deliverable 2-9: JAD Minutes and Action Items The Contractor shall prepare minutes and action items of the JADs and submit for approval within ten (10) calendar days after the JAD.

Deliverable 2-10: Timeline Alignment Meeting Preparation Coordination with external and internal entities to gather agenda items. Develop and prepare agendas and documents for dissemination to the group five (5) business days before the meeting.

Deliverable 2-11: Timeline Alignment Meeting Minutes and Action Items The Contractor shall prepare minutes and action items of the Timeline Alignment Meetings and submit for approval within five (5) business days after the Timeline Alignment Meeting.

2.C.2. – Measures Management:

The contractor shall perform all public reporting activities under this section of the IDIQ

SOW.

2.C.3.– State Agencies for Survey and Certification Tasks under this chapter are not applicable to this TO.

2.D. - Project Management:

2.D.1. - Project Management Plan The contractor shall perform all public reporting activities under this section of the IDIQ

SOW.

2.D.2. - Kickoff Meeting The contractor shall perform all activities under this section of the IDIQ SOW.

2.E.-Deliverables

SOW.

2.F. –Ad Hoc Requests from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services The contractor shall perform all public reporting activities under this section of the IDIQ

SOW.

CHAPTER 3. INFORMATION GATHERING

This chapter and associated tasks are not applicable to this TO.

CHAPTER 4. QUALITY MEASURE DEVELOPMENT & REEVALUATION

This Chapter and associated work and deliverables do not apply to this TO.

CHAPTER 5. INSTRUMENT/ITEM DEVELOPMENT

This Chapter and associated work and deliverables do not apply to this TO SOW.

CHAPTER 6. TESTING/VALIDATION

CHAPTER 7. REPORTS/APPROVAL PACKAGES

In accordance with (IAW) Chapter 7 of the MIDS IDIQ SOW, the Contractor shall carry out all work as described in sections 7.A-7.H

Deliverable Number 7-5: Periodic Status Calls - The MIDS Contractor shall facilitate monthly Status Calls with CMS and other designated parties. The purpose of this meeting is to review the monthly report documents submitted to the COR. The call shall occur after submission of the monthly status report. Discussion shall include, but is not limited to budget forecast and actual costs, over and under spending, milestones, upcoming deliverables, risks, issues and mitigation strategies. The Contractor shall submit the meeting agenda two (2) business days prior to meeting date.

Deliverable Number 7-6: Periodic Status Calls Minutes - The Contractor shall submit the monthly Status Call Minutes within five (5) business days following each status call.

CHAPTER 8. IMPLEMENTATION, PRODUCTION & ASSESSMENT

CHAPTER 9. PUBLIC REPORTING/COMPARE SITES

IAW Chapter 9 of the MIDS IDIQ SOW, the Contractor shall carry out all work/tasks described in sections 9.A., 9.B., 9.C., 9.E-I. Work/tasks required in section 9.D and are not required for this TO SOW.

9.A., Coordination with other CMS Components:

The Contractor shall provide coordination with other CMS components to assist in the enhancement of the Hospital Compare website. The Contractor shall work with the Office of Communications (OC) through the COR to determine a prioritized list of updates to the website, improving the overall user experience.

Deliverable Number 9-4: Prioritized list of website enhancements Develop a prioritized list of website enhancements to improve user experience. This prioritized list is a “living document” and will be discussed during weekly COR meetings and bi-weekly Hospital Compare Contractor’s Calls. Where feasible, priorities shall be aligned with other Compare websites and CMS priorities.

9.B., Content Management/Support:

The Contractor shall perform all public reporting activities under this section of the IDIQ SOW, with the addition of the following items:

The Contractor shall verify/maintain reference/background website content regarding Hospital Compare to include (but not limited to):

• Hospital Compare

• Data.medicare.gov

• QualityNet.org

• Hospital Quality Initiative pages on CMS.gov

The Contractor shall review or delegate the review to measure owners, and maintain website textual content and downloadable files documentation on a quarterly basis in collaboration with other internal and external stakeholders. The goal of this activity is to ensure that the information is up-to-date, complete and accurate and that, to the extent possible, users of the data are fully informed about the data. In general, the Contractor shall conduct information gathering, documentation and development of content language and recommendations. Additional related tasks may be requested by the COR. All proposed content must follow the Plain Writing Act, which can be found at:

http://www.plainlanguage.gov/plLaw/index.cfm. The Contractor shall propose changes for approval by CMS that if approved, will be implemented in collaboration with contractors for other CMS Websites (e.g., www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare and www.CMS.gov) or the Quality Net website Contractor (for www.QualityNet.org).

Deliverable Number 9-5: Content Management and Support - Reports that summarize the Contractor’s reviews and propose maintenance updates of Website content. These reports are due quarterly 45 calendar days prior to website release/refresh.

Deliverable Number 9-6: New Measure Template The Contractor shall work with data providers to complete new measure templates, which outline the content and data layout of any new measures publicly reported on Hospital https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/search.html?

https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/search.html?

https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/search.html?

https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/search.html?

https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/search.html?

https://data.medicare.gov/data/hospital-compare https://www.qualitynet.org/dcs/ContentServer?c=Page&pagename=QnetPublic%2FPage%2FQnetHomepage&cid=1120143435363 https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/HospitalQualityInits/index.html http://www.plainlanguage.gov/plLaw/index.cfm http://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare http://www.cms.gov/ http://www.qualitynet.org/

Compare. New measure templates shall be collected by the Contractor and submitted to the web team according to public reporting timeline.

9.B.1 Reporting Quality Measurement Data for the Department of Veterans Affairs

(VA):

Deliverable Number 9-7: Work Plan Maintenance The Contractor shall work with CMS, other stakeholders, and the VA to coordinate and maintain the existing work plan to enable acceptance and testing of VA quality measure data by CMS, and public reporting of VA data on Hospital Compare. The types of quality measures that may be publicly posted on Hospital Compare include, but are not limited to, process of care, outcomes measures, Hospital Associated Infection measures (HAIs) and the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) measures. The work plan shall include, at a minimum, identification of the CMS components and their contractors involved in the effort relative to each specific measure or groups of measures, identification of the VA components and their contractors involved in the effort, requirements and actions for each involved component to achieve the goals of the work between CMS and the VA, and timelines for implementation.

Additional elements of the report may be identified for inclusion through discussions with CMS and the VA.

Deliverable 9-8: Conference Calls The Contractor shall coordinate and facilitate regular meetings between the VA and CMS and any other stakeholders as needed on a weekly basis as well as any necessary ad hoc meetings. The Contractor shall provide agendas and minutes from meetings to the attendees in a timely manner. [VHA (52/yr, 10 phone lines)] Agendas shall be delivered two (2) business days prior to meetings and minutes five (5) business days after meeting.

Deliverable 9-9: File Testing and CMS Access The Contractor shall work with the CMS, other stakeholders, and the VA to ensure VA data is tested as part of the quarterly User Acceptance Testing for updates to the Hospital Compare website. In order to access the CMS instances of JIRA and Confluence, which are used for User Acceptance Testing (UAT) issues logging, the VA participants will be required to have a CMS User ID. The Contractor shall assist the VA with obtaining and filling out the require Access Forms. CMS will provide the Contractor with the appropriate forms upon award. The VA personnel shall have their forms completed within thirty (30) calendar days of contract award.

9.B.2 Reporting Quality Measurement Data for the Department of Defense (DoD)

Deliverable Number 9-10: Work Plan Maintenance The Contractor shall work with CMS, other stakeholders, and the DoD to coordinate and maintain the existing work plan to enable acceptance and testing of DoD quality measure data by CMS, and public reporting of DoD data on Hospital Compare. The types of quality measures that may be publicly posted on Hospital Compare include, but are not limited to, process of care, Healthcare-Associated Infection measures (HAIs) and the https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/search.html?

https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/search.html?

https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/search.html?

https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/search.html?

https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/search.html?

Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) measures. The work plan shall include, at a minimum, identification of the CMS components and their contractors involved in the effort relative to each specific measure or groups of measures, identification of the DoD components and their contractors involved in the effort, requirements and actions for each involved component to achieve the goals of the work between CMS and the DoD, and timelines for implementation.

Additional elements of the report may be identified for inclusion through discussions with CMS and the DoD.

Deliverable 9-11: Conference Calls The Contractor shall coordinate and facilitate regular meetings between the DoD and CMS and any other stakeholders as needed on a weekly basis as well as any necessary ad hoc meetings. The Contractor shall provide agendas and minutes from meetings to the attendees in a timely manner. [DoD Conference Calls (52/yr, 10 phone lines)] Agendas shall be delivered two (2) business days prior to meetings and minutes five (5) business days after meeting.

Deliverable 9-12: File Testing and CMS Access The Contractor shall work with the CMS, other stakeholders, and the DoD to ensure DoD data is tested as part of the quarterly User Acceptance Testing for updates to the Hospital Compare website. In order to access the CMS instances of JIRA and Confluence, which are used for UAT issues logging, the DoD participants will be required to have a CMS User ID. The Contractor shall assist the DoD with obtaining and filling out the require Access Forms. CMS will provide the Contractor with the appropriate forms upon award.

The DoD personnel shall have their forms completed within thirty (30) calendar days of contract award.

9.C. - Provider Preview:

The contractor shall perform the following items under this section of the IDIQ SOW:

CMS is obligated by law to provide hospitals with a preview of their data prior to making it available to the public via Hospital Compare. CMS not only provides preview reports for measure data, but also Hospital Specific Reports (HSRs) showing hospitals their Star Rating information. While this contract does not require the preparation of preview reports or files or HSRs, there is a need to provide communication documents for each quarterly preview period.

Deliverable 9-13: Preview/HSR Communication Documents The Contractor shall prepare such documents as Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), Fact Sheets, listserve memo’s announcing release of HSRs, HSR User Guides and other documents are requested by CMS. As some of the Hospital Compare data is considered “controversial”, specifically Star Ratings, the Contractor will need to anticipate the need for extra clearance within CMS. All documents for Preview/HSR’s shall be submitted to CMS thirty (30) calendar days before opening of Preview or release of HSRs.

9.D. – Measure Implementation Algorithm Not applicable to this TO https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/search.html?

https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/search.html?

9.E. – Measure File Production The contractor shall work with other CMS stakeholders to produce files for the Downloadable Databases, in a form and manner as directed by CMS. Currently, the Downloadable files are posted on https://data.medicare.gov/ in a comma-separated value (CSV) format, but this may change as technology continues to evolve. Along with the downloadable files, the Contractor shall also produce the corresponding Downloadable Database Dictionary. This shall occur on a quarterly basis.

Deliverable 9-14: Downloadable File Production Production of the Downloadable Databases (DDB) are dependent on the receipt of final files from the Production Data Management (PDM) contractor. The Contractor shall work with the PDM contractor to obtain copies of the final Hospital Compare files, and prepare the downloadable databases according to the Hospital Compare master timeline.

Deliverable 9-15: Downloadable Database Dictionary The downloadable database dictionary provides details on how to use the downloadable files and highlights any updates/changes to those files from quarter to quarter. The Contractor shall develop this DDB dictionary on a quarterly basis, in accordance with the Hospital Compare master timeline. The Contractor may use the current DDB dictionary as a template or guide. The existing DDB dictionary will be provided upon award.

9.F. - Communications Material:

The Contractor shall prepare various types of communication documents for differing audiences. These documents include, but may not be limited to press releases, fact sheets, talking points, FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions), briefing documents, reactive statements etc., for each Hospital Compare Update. Often times, the documents will require multiple iterations with turn around times of less than 24-hours. The COR will direct the Contractor as to the specific documents required for each release.

Deliverable 9-16: Communications Materials For each quarterly release of the website, the Contractor shall provide CMS with the requested documents as directed by the COR. Submit draft documents to the CMS COR thirty (30) calendar days prior to each website release in order to account for CMS Clearance processes.

Along with Communications Materials, the Contractor may be required to participate in roll-out sessions in accordance with the Office of Communications as needed. Activities may include but are not limited to:

• Engage in roll-out activities for new measures and updates to the Star Ratings;

https://data.medicare.gov/

• Develop a communications plan with the COR and CMS Office of Communications (OC), in preparation for a roll-out of new measures and updated Star Ratings;

• Prepare a set of FAQ’s as requested by CMS COR;

• Preparation of briefing materials for various levels of CMS Leadership;

• Participate in other roll-out activities as directed by the COR.

Deliverable 9-17: Roll out Materials Develop roll-out materials for website refreshes. Coordinate roll-out efforts with the CMS OC, submitting draft documents to the CMS COR thirty (30) calendar days prior to a Hospital Compare roll-out.

The Hospital Compare website has gained in popularity over the years. The data posted on the site is often used by other entities for their own public reporting and quality improvement efforts. As such, stakeholders need to have a method for submission of Hospital Compare related questions that can be triaged and send to the appropriate Subject Matter Expert (SME). The Contractor shall provide an email inbox for such questions, and provide triaging services to the appropriate SME’s for appropriate responses. Currently, the incumbent oversees two (2) separate sites; one for general Hospital Compare questions, and one for Star Rating questions. For this contract, the Contractor may use discretion and experience to determine if two (2) separate email inboxes are necessary.

Deliverable 9-18: Email Inbox The Contractor shall develop and maintain an email inbox for Hospital Compare and Star Rating related questions. The Contractor may determine if there is a need for two (2) separate inboxes. The Contractor shall maintain an active, up to date SME contact list to use for triaging the multitude of questions that come in through the current inboxes.

Historically, we receive about 50 questions per week, with escalation to twice that number soon before and after Hospital Compare refreshes. The Contractor shall provide appropriate triage within two (2) business days of email receipt, and responses within seven (7) business days.

Deliverable 9-19: Email Inbox Reports On a monthly basis, and submitted with the required monthly report, the Contractor shall furnish CMS with a report of all email inbox inquiries and responses including response times. The Contractor shall also identify any roadblocks to meeting the email correspondence timelines within the reports. Email inquiries awaiting a CMS response will be discussed during the weekly COR calls.

In regards to the website and the underlying data, CMS at times receives correspondences from various levels of stakeholders, including Hospital Associations, States and Congress. The Contractor shall provide CMS with responses to such correspondence, responding using the CMS active voice. Examples of correspondence responses can be furnished upon award.

Deliverable 9-20: Correspondence Responses The Contractor shall submit to CMS draft responses within two (2) business days of CMS request for response. The draft response will need to go through CMS clearance, so the Contractor shall anticipate several iterations before the correspondence response is made final. CMS will furnish the final response used to answer the stakeholder if different than the original draft. In order to be successful at this task, the Contractor will need to demonstrate skills in developing responses to various types of stakeholders within their proposal. In general, CMS receives on average two (2) letters per release, unless an item reported is construed as “controversial” such as the Star Ratings.

9.G. - User Acceptance Testing (UAT):

The Contractor shall coordinate and participate in UAT of website content before it is made public. With each quarterly release, the websites will require user testing before going live. The Contractor will be required to develop a testing plan based on the content that is in scope. Measures that may need testing include the process of care, HAI and other items as directed by CMS. As part of UAT, the Contractor shall also review the language and content, including data collection dates and other static documents and log the findings into a web based interactive issues tracking tool such as the JIRA tool currently maintained by the web team. Entries shall be submitted into the web tool. A final report of UAT active issues shall be submitted to the COR.

Deliverable Number 9-21: User Acceptance Testing The Contractor shall coordinate with data providers and other contractors and actively participate in UAT. With each release of the website, quality assurance must be completed to ensure the data being publicly reported is accurate. The Contractor will coordinate UAT activities with other Hospital Compare Contractors and data providers.

The Contractor shall provide a sign-off log, documenting sign off from all applicable data providers prior to the website go live. This log must be submitted to CMS within five (5) business days of UAT completion.

Deliverable Number 9-22: User Acceptance Testing Report Provide a comprehensive review and report of all UAT findings to the COR. The report shall contain a list of issues/comments and the status of those issues (ie. Issue fixed, deferred, cannot duplicate). Any “known issues” shall also be included in the report.

The report must be submitted to CMS within five (5) business days of UAT completion.

The web posting contractor may use the report to schedule a “lessons learned” session.

At times, defects are found during UAT and prior to UAT. Defects can have root causes in file development, underlying data issues and other types of defects. It is necessary for all defects to be tracked accordingly, so that a root cause can be determined.

Deliverable Number 9-23: Defect Tracker The Contractor shall maintain a defect tracker, which includes all of the defect details received from the various data providers and infrastructure contractor. This document shall track the submitter of the defect, data impacted, workflow data vs downloadable or embedded table data, any resources used to fix the defect, and any impact on scheduled release or required suppression. Other items may be added to the tracker per CMS COR.

The defect tracker shall be maintained on an ongoing basis and disseminated with each Contractor’s Call on a bi-weekly basis.

Deliverable 9-24: File Testing and CMS Access The Contractor shall work with the CMS, other stakeholders, to ensure data is tested as part of the quarterly User Acceptance Testing for updates to the Hospital Compare website. In order to access the CMS instances of JIRA and Confluence, which are used for UAT issues logging, participants will be required to have a CMS User ID. The Contractor shall assist stakeholders with obtaining and filling out the required Access Forms. CMS will provide the Contractor with the appropriate forms upon award. All applicable personnel shall have their forms completed within thirty (30) calendar days of contract award.

9.H, - Public Reporting Timeline:

The Contractor shall perform all public reporting activities under this section of the IDIQ SOW, with the addition of the following items:

The Contractor shall coordinate with all applicable stakeholders to develop an overall public reporting timeline and Roadmap for Hospital Compare. Currently, there are several (see examples below) components and contracts contributing content to the Hospital Compare website. In general, the CCSQ Information Systems Group (ISG) Contractors releases their timeline which shall be distributed to the Hospital Compare team for concurrence of the dates. The Contractor shall gather the various component timelines and content descriptions to reflect an integrated overall Hospital Compare timeline for every release/refresh cycle. A ‘release’ occurs when new content or measures are added to the website and the data are updated. A ‘refresh’ occurs when nothing new is added but the data are updated.

Examples:

• Inpatient and Outpatient Preview and Final Files Timelines from the Program Management and Business Requirements

• Quality Tools Data Refresh/Release Schedule from the Office of Communication, Web and New Media Group

• Data Collection and Submission Schedule from the QualityNet.org website

The Contractor shall provide, on a quarterly basis, Hospital Compare public reporting timelines that contain information including major milestones and deliverables, responsible entities and dates. In general, overlapping timelines for two or three public reporting cycles will exist at any point in time as planning for each Hospital Compare update begins about nine months in advance.

Deliverable Number 9-25: Timelines Overall Public Reporting Timelines for Hospital Compare are due quarterly within five

(5) business days after each public reporting timeline becomes available from the ISG Contractors.

https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/search.html?

https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/search.html?

https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/search.html?

https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/search.html?

https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/search.html?

https://www.qualitynet.org/dcs/ContentServer?c=Page&pagename=QnetPublic%2FPage%2FQnetHomepage&cid=1120143435363 https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/search.html?

Deliverable Number 9-26: Roadmap The Contractor shall maintain a Roadmap of Hospital Compare releases and refreshes, documenting all of the applicable programs, measure refreshes, measure removals and other details related to each quarterly Hospital Compare update. An example of the current Roadmap can be provided upon award. This Roadmap shall be maintained as a “living” document, and shall be discussed and updated at each bi-weekly Contractor’s Call.

9.I. – Reporting of Public Reporting/Compare Site Costs The contractor shall perform all public reporting activities under this section of the IDIQ SOW, with the addition of the following items:

This contract provides support for CMS as well as the VA and DoD. CMS currently has Interagency Agreements with both entities. Work for both VA and DoD cannot be funded with CMS money. The Contractor shall only use funds associated with the applicable IAA’s. As such, all funding for work undertaken for VA and DoD needs to be tracked separately from other CMS work.

Deliverable Number 9-27: Cost Tracking The Contractor shall provide, within the monthly report, a separate cost report for both the VA and DoD work related spending.

Deliverable Number 9-28: Task Tracking Within the monthly report, the Contractor shall provide CMS with a monthly breakdown of tasks associated with the monthly VA and DoD costs.

CHAPTER 10. ACCESS TO SYSTEMS/DATA

Not applicable to this TO.

CHAPTER 11. QUALITY ASSURANCE AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

The contractor shall perform all public reporting activities under this section of the IDIQ

SOW.

CHAPTER 12. TRANSITION FROM INCUMBENT TO SUCCESSOR

In the event transition is needed, CMS may require the incumbent to provide transition services beginning at the earliest mutually agreeable date. During this period, the incumbent shall work with the new Contractor/successor, CMS staff, as well as other identified CMS Contractors to ensure continued operation of the Program. CMS anticipates this transition period will require fifteen (15) calendar days to complete, and will occur during the overlap between new contract award and current contract expiration.

Prior to commencement of transition, CMS will request a transition plan from the incumbent Contractor. The Transition Plan shall provide adequate coverage to ensure uninterrupted service to the Program, be effectively and efficiently administered, and be completed within a reasonable timeframe.

The successor shall cooperate fully with the incumbent, as directed by the COR, to ensure that all services continue without interruption.

Deliverable Number 12-1: Transition Plan Three (3) months prior to the TO end date, at CMS’s request, the Contractor shall prepare a Transition Plan outlining the parameters listed above. Other items to be transitioned include file testing code and logic, document templates, public reporting timelines and roadmap, downloadable database production code and data dictionary and any other documentation requested by CMS.