HHSI2462016Q0046_Solicitation_Q A's_AREA-WIDE_CODING__BILLING_AUDIT_SERVICES.docx

HHSI2462016Q0046 Questions and Answers

1. Are you willing to carve out OBGYN? No

2. If you are willing to carve out OBGYN, are the providers ONLY located in a Hospital &/or Ambulatory setting? When reviewing the Background Section, it did not indicate OBGYN in an Ambulatory setting. Right, these are in the hospital setting and only one of the hospitals does deliveries.

3. How many practitioners are providing OBGYN (MD, DO, CNM, NP etc.) services? Depends on staffing at the site; 7, MD, DO, NP, CNM.

4. What vendor(s) are you utilizing for EHR in the ambulatory and hospital settings. Are the EHR’s the same or different? It’s all the same EHR, which is the RPMS EHR. This is the same EHR system the VA uses.

5. Is Scheduling and Billing integrated within the EHR? No, those are separate packages.

6. Page B-5. Qualifications. The Solicitation states: “The actual reviewer shall have at least three years of experience reviewing claims in an ambulatory and hospital health care organizations, as well as two years of education and training.”

a. Does the two years of education refer specifically to only one claims review or coding education/training (e.g. a formal 2-year certification course), or does it refer to any degree program or educational setting that a reviewer undertook (e.g. an Associate degree in Nursing) for two years. Coding and billing education.

b. Would ongoing continuing education to maintain one’s coding certification/credentials qualify as “training” for this requirement? Yes

7. Page B-5. Qualifications. The Solicitation states: “The proposal shall include the resumes of the actual reviewers, two (2) current client references specific to each individual reviewer, proof of credentials samples of completed audit reports.

a. What type of references are requested: name/contact information? Professional references that can be called for a reference. Can a bidder provide two different references (e.g. a QA Manager and Project Director) from the same client? Yes, they should be two different ones. Many coders work long term and exclusively on one government contract, which makes providing two separate references difficult when they have five to ten years exclusive on one contract.

b. Should there be a comma (,) between “proof of credentials samples of completed audit reports”, which would then make the Solicitation read that a response should include “proof of credentials” such as a coding certification? Yes, there should be a comma

c. What types of samples of completed audit reports are required? We are concerned whether you wish for potential templates for this Solicitation or redacted reports from prior audit work, which may not comply with confidentiality clauses (and potentially delve into release of HIPAA information) of prior work. Audit structure/outline of what was reviewed and the format with no actual PHI will suffice.

8. Page c-24. Business Associate Agreement (BAA) Clause. The Solicitation provides a sample BAA. Does the responder need to provide a completed Business Associate Agreement ("BAA") with the RFQ? No we use the IHS BAA. Is the BAA only to be completed after award? Yes

9. Page B-2. “Scope of Work”. The Solicitation outlines the type of documents needing auditing and review.

a. Does the contractor receive and/or retain any documents to on its own software system or internally in hard copy? If so, must document be retained for a certain period of time? The contractor that receives the award will be required to sign an Business Partner Interconnection Security Agreement with the Agency. This agreement defines procedures of reciprocal cooperation and coordination between IHS and a business partner. This type of agreement is required if the business entity has direct access to IHS information resources (e.g., ability to log in to the IHS network directly, or through a VPN connection).

b. Alternatively, does the contractor only access documents while on site or through VPN in which the documents would exclusively remain only on the facilities network at all times? VPN

c. Will each facility have an individual VPN network? No.

10. Page B-4. 10.2 Task 2(e): The scope of work specifies that contractor reports will be provided in electronic format. What is the preferred method to return those electronic files…email, VPN, secure portal? The IHS has a secure portal the contractor can utilize.

11. Page B-7. Invoice Submission and Page C-2., Section C-3: Contract Terms. The bid describes the format for bidding, but does not state the time frame. Are invoices submitted monthly, quarterly, or upon audit completion. The audits will be quarterly and the invoice will be submitted after they are completed.

12. Page E-4. Section E.1 “Instructions to Offers – Commercial Items (Oct 2015). We’re looking for further clarification on the preferred format of our Response to this Solicitation. Is our understanding correct that we must include:

a. The signed SF 1449 with pricing information Yes or

b. A document (either on letterhead or a Response to RFQ) that includes: Solicitation number; Our name, address, and telephone number Offers may be submitted on the SF 1449, letterhead stationery, or as otherwise specified in the solicitation. As a minimum, offers must show—

(1) The solicitation number;

(2) The time specified in the solicitation for receipt of offers;

(3) The name, address, and telephone number of the offers;

(4) A technical description of the items being offered in sufficient detail to evaluate compliance with the requirements in the solicitation.

c. A resume for each proposed reviewer containing qualifications, training/education Training/Education, and credentialing certification Yes

d. Two references for each reviewer Yes

e. A statement verifying SAM registration. By submitting your offer, you acknowledge the requirement to be registered in SAM.

13. General Question: Is there other response information necessary, and can the contractor provide a company background/summary of qualifications along with subcontractor experience? No. you can provide additional information.

14. General Question: For any subcontracting, must the prime contractor provide any letter of intent or teaming agreement, particularly if with an Indian-Owned business?

This requirement is 100% small business set aside.

15. General Question: Do you envision this work being done on a continual basis for the year. For instance, do you assume audit staff would be working year round on this contract. We are reading the bid as that every three months (because there are 4 audits planned per year), the staff will shift gears from current audit into new audit with little to no downtime in between. That’s up to the auditor and their workload.

16. Is there an incumbent contractor? No

17. What is name of incumbent and current contract number?

18. Is incumbent eligible to rebid for this requirement?

19. Is funding in place for this project? Funding is subject to the availability of funds.

20. For the training task, is the post audit in service for coding and billing required onsite each quqrter or can be done remotely? On site.

21. How many days onsite for each bi annual training visit are required? Depends on the size of the facility and how quickly the contractor can do it, the day/date(s) are not specified.

22. Will the I.H.S. provide office space and office equipment for the onsite training? Yes

23. We assume travel costs should be included in our quarterly unit prices on SF 1449? Yes