Academic Detailing Q and A.doc

Questions received under Academic Detailing

1) Page 10 of the solicitation makes reference to: Five separate contracts are being selected to gain the specific expertise necessary to reach the goals of each contract. Page 11 of the solicitation it states that: The overall goal of the Academic Detailing initiative is to contract with an organization to conduct activities related to academic detailing so that selected target audiences put AHRQ’s comparative effectiveness products, tools, and research into practice. Page 12 states: Subtask 1.2 - Attend Coordination Meeting To facilitate coordination between the four Dissemination Contractors and the Evaluation Contractor on Task 5 below, all of the contractors shall meet at AHRQ on or before October 29, 2010. The specific date for the meeting will be provided after contract award. The five dissemination contractors and the Evaluation Contractor are expected to establish working relationships.

Question(s)

Page 11 appears to refer to one contract for academic detailing while page 10 refers to 5 separate and distinct contracts, each presumably with its own scope of work. Subtask 1.2 refers to four dissemination contractors in one sentence then refers to five dissemination contractors in another sentence. Is this solicitation for the academic detailing contract only, or is it for all 5 components? If it relates to 5 separate and distinct contracts, where can I find additional information regarding the scope of work for the continuing education contract and the Publicity Center with Comparative Effectiveness Virtual Centers? This RFP is for the Academic Detailing requirement only. There are 4 others that are related: Publicity Center, Continuing Education, Regional Offices and an Evaluation Contract. The related projects are being solicited separately.

2) Can you confirm that this RFP only covers the academic detailing contract and that the other four RFPs will be issued separately, in particular that for the evaluation contractor? If so, is there an estimated date for the RFP for the evaluation contractor? This RFP is for the Academic Detailing requirement only. The evaluation component is being procured under an existing contract vehicle. No RFP will be issued.

3) Is it planned that there will be one, or five different contracts? One contract is expected to be awarded as a result of this RFP for Academic Detailing.

4) Does AHRQ have a preference of actual healthcare professionals to be targeted based on CMS databases? We would prefer Doctors/nurses/PAs, and other allied health professionals.

5) What database should be utilized to identify the target audience for academic detailing? We want you to suggest potential sources for identifying target audiences.

6) Will the identification of CER topics for detailing activities be at the discretion of the contractor, or will they be assigned by AHRQ upon award of this contract? Since priorities can change over time, the topics will be assigned by AHRQ based on priorities at the time.

7) The proposal predicts a total of 9,000 visits over 3 years. What is the definition of a “visit”? For example/ Does a visit with a group practice that involves 7 physicians and 3 nurses count as 1 visit or 10 visits? ? A visit is defined as in-person contact. Yes, this example appears to be one visit.

8) What metrics will be used to measure the impact of detailing activities on actual clinical effectiveness and cost? The most important metric is the actual change in practice patterns, we understand this is difficult to accomplish but that is the goal.

9) On page 8 of the RFP: These academic detailers would be health care professionals who would conduct in-person meetings around the country (across the continental United States) with the target audiences to provide the latest comparative effectiveness research information. Question: Can you elaborate on “around the country”? Will meetings take place in metropolitan areas only? Are there certain cities and/or states that will be targeted for academic detailing? If so can you list these locations? We are looking for proposals that cover the entire continental US. The offerors need to show how they would accomplish this in their proposals.

10) How many physicians do you want captured in the detailing and are there particular geographic regions to be captured? Submit your suggested approach in your technical proposal.

11) On page 15 of the RFP: Based on the topic assigned, the Contractor shall assign staff who are knowledgeable and have technical expertise in that particular topic area.

Question: Attachment B lists possible topic areas with a broad range, from needle biopsies to the comparison between ACE inhibitors and ARBs for treating hypertension. Is the intention of this contract to utilize academic detailers based solely on their areas of expertise? Can you clarify the expectations for area of expertise? Having expertise on each topic is extremely difficult. However, it is crucial that the detailers have significant knowledge of the information they are explaining. If they do not, then the credibility of the project could suffer.

12) On page 15 of the RFP: Provide a final staffing chart within 30 days after the contract award, including the number of qualified personnel to support multiple projects that will occur concurrently and the resume of each new staff person who is assigned to any project and discuss the qualifications of this person before staffer is officially assigned to the project. Question: Should the final staffing chart include all staff that will act as academic detailers “around the country”, or is this chart solely the project management staff? It is not necessary for this chart to show every academic detailer around the country. However, we do want the chart to include all Project Management staff.

13) On page 19 of the RFP: Schedule appointments for academic detailing and conduct in person meetings at client sites. Academic detailers should begin work within 130 days of contract award. Academic detailers should provide metrics of number of visits and number of repeat visits, phone calls, mail, e-mails, in-person visits, etc. quarterly. Provide a chart detailing these metrics (see Attachment C for format). Question: Please clarify what a visit constitutes. Is a visit always an in person meeting for all locations? Are phone calls, mail, and emails only used as a follow-up tool? Also does each visit mean talking to a physician, or are other health care personnel also targeted for detailing? A visit is defined as in-person contact. Other types of calls, emails, regular mail will occur before and after the in-person visits. We understand the difficulty in reaching the physician directly. Therefore, discussions with other health care professionals in the office are acceptable.

14) On page 20 of the RFP: Subtask 5.6 - Perform ‘retention test”; Perform “retention test” to target audiences to determine if they recall information provided. Testing will be performed at the one year mark and reported to the Evaluation Contractor. Question: Can you elaborate on how you define a retention test? What are the expectations in terms of this evaluation? We are hopeful that the retention test will indicate how much information is retained by the person who received the academic detailing information. The evaluation contractor will work with the successful offeror to determine the exact expectations for this effort.

15) Ref Page 10. - With the exception of the 'Evaluation' contract, will the other four contracts all use academic detailing techniques to deliver comparative effectiveness research findings? No, they will not. Just this contract.

16) Who exactly will be the 'target audience' for the 'Continuing Education', 'Publicity Center with Comparative Effectiveness Virtual Centers', and 'Regional Offices' contracts? The target audiences are listed in the Statement of Work. Please see Section C, 1 B.

17) Will academic detailing services/relationships be used to gain uptake of comparative effectiveness messages for target audiences of the contracts let for 'Continuing Education' 'Publicity Center with Comparative Effectiveness Virtual Centers' and 'Regional Offices'? Only the contract awarded under this RFP will use Academic Detailing methods. However, it is anticipated that the close cooperation required between this contract and the related efforts may create a synergistc effect

18) It is known amongst those who have delivered academic detailing services over multiple years that when individual consent is sought from primary care practitioners for evaluation of their clinical decisions or knowledge subsequent to academic detailing visits, only between 5 and 25% of practitioners will consent to participate. It is also well known that those consenting to participate are highly selected as those whose actual clinical practice is closest to ideal target clinical practices. The RFP mostly pre-supposes that a consenting process for third-party evaluation of individual practitioner clinical decisions will be put in place by each service-delivery contractor. This will ensure selection of a cohort where it is much less likely that academic detailing services will be found to be 'effective'. Alternative means of effective evaluation of clinical decisions (without obtaining individual consents to receive academic detailing services) using anonymisation techniques applied to third party claims datasets have in the past been approved by IRBs. Will such arrangements be countenanced for academic detailing service delivery contractors? Yes. If you have other suggestions that you think are worthwhile, put them in your proposal.

19) At page 14, it is stated that 9000 visits will be expected to take place over a 3-year period. For budgetary purposes is it reasonable to assume that about 2250 visits will need to be planned for each successful contractor who is to deliver academic detailing services? It is assumed that there will be only one contractor selected for Academic Detailing. It is further assumed that the 9000 visits will be performed by the successful offeror.

20) What is the anticipated level of effort? The successful offeror will be expected to make 9000 in-person visits to clinician offices around the country.

21) Is this in fact a firm, fixed-price contract? Yes, the RFP is for a firm fixed price contract.

22) Will a contractor that works on any of the four dissemination contracts (i.e., academic detailing, continuing education, publicity center, regional offices) be precluded from bidding on the evaluation contract? The evaluation component is being procured under an existing contract vehicle. No RFP will be issued.

23) Is the contractor that is awarded this contract expected to report on all of the report metrics specified in Subtask 2.2? Are these the same metrics expected for each of the other contracts (e.g., continuing education? Is the contractor expected to develop additional metrics? Yes, the contractor is expected to report on all metrics specified in Subtask 2.2 plus others. No, there may be different metrics for each contract. Yes, the contractor may need to develop additional metrics as directed by Evaluation contractor.

24) To what extent does AHRQ expect this contract and the other four to overlap with the existing knowledge transfer/implementation contracts OCKT has in progress? There will be no overlap in responsibilities, any required coordination will be managed by the Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative (COTR).

25) To what extent is the contractor expected to coordinate with the Effective Health Care (EHC) Program? Close coordination is essential. This coordination will be managed by the COTR.

26) I have been reading through your RFP document, and it seems to me that you have neglected to include a number of Attachments you reference. These include: Attachments A, B and C. Attachments A, B & C are found at the end of Section C in the Statement of Work. An updated Attachment A has been posted to FedBizOps under Amendment 1 to the solicitation.

27) In Attachment A (page 21 in the orig RFP, & replacement version), AHRQ states that the 4 dissemination contractors will provide "case studies of the effective use of CER research health care methods." Can AHRQ please clarify whether this is referring to dissemination methods or something else? It is not methods; it is the actual use of CER findings.

28) In Attachment A (page 21 in the orig RFP, & replacement version), AHRQ states that "other AHRQ contractors may at times review work performed under this contract and provide advice and consultation to facilitate the successful implementation of a specific project." Can AHRQ please clarify from which contracts these individuals who would provide advice or consultation would be from? No, we can’t at this time. Any requested coordination would be managed by the COTR.

29) In Attachment A (page 21 in the orig RFP, & replacement version), AHRQ states "A requirement of this contract will be coordination between the Evaluation Contractor and the John M. Eisenberg Clinical Decisions and Communications Science Center." Can AHRQ please elaborate on the nature and frequency of the expected coordination, and perhaps the reason for this coordination (e.g., overlapping efforts, similar goals)? The Eisenberg Center carries out some dissemination activities. There will need to be very close coordination to ensure there is no overlap. This coordination will be facilitated by the COTR.

30) Is there a maximum budget amount allowed? Offerors are responsible for submitting their proposed budget commensurate with the proposed technical approach.

31) Have you defined what types of physician practices you want targeted? Again, we would like to hear your plans as part of your proposal.

32) Do you know how many clinicians you want deployed to do the academic detailing? Can they include pharmacists, nurses, health educators, etc? We don’t have a set number of clinicians that should be deployed. Yes, they can include the above mentioned. Your proposal could address this issue.

33) Do you know what guidelines you want targeted? We don’t know at this exact time. This will depend on the significance of the findings and the priorities at the time.

34) I assume we create our own marketing material, is that correct?You will use the current materials that have been developed. If additional materials are required, the COTR will provide you with the necessary guidance.

35) When is the anticipated start date of the award? This contract and the others will be awarded by Sept 30.

36) Can we submit as a group of Clinical and Translational Science Awardees who focus on CER? We don’t understand the use of the terms “Clinical and Translational Science Awardees.” You are welcome to discuss this in your proposal.