JOFOC - AHIMA Foundation

Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition

“Source Selection Information – see FAR 2.101 and 3.104”

1. Identification of the agency and contracting activity.

a. Federal agency and contracting activity.

HHS/Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE).

b. Sponsoring organization.

Office of Disability, Aging, and Long-term Care Policy.

c. Project Officer information.

2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved.

Acquisition purpose and objectives.

The Department is required by law (the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)) to develop a nationwide health information technology infrastructure that allows for the electronic use and exchange of health information for a variety of purposes including for improvements in quality and continuity of care. This contract will support the development of that infrastructure by working to fill a critical gap in the Department’s HIE programs.

Specifically:

Under HITECH, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) has awarded several Health IT grant programs to support the development of the nationwide health information technology infrastructure, including State Health IT Grants, State Health IT Challenge Grants that focus on LTPAC providers, and Beacon Community Grants. The period of performance for these various grant programs is schedule to end 2013 (for the Beacon Community program) and 2014 (for the State Health IT grants).

This contract will leverage materials and representatives from these programs to advance interoperable health information exchange (HIE) on behalf of LTPAC and other providers.

Under HITECH, CMS was required to implement incentive programs for the use of EHRs including a Medicaid EHR incentive program. Medicaid incentive programs must be implemented no later than 2016. CMS has required all States to submit documents describing how the State will advance the adoption and use of health IT on behalf of all Medicaid providers, including LTC and other providers. This contract will leverage materials and representatives from Medicaid programs to support and advance interoperable health information exchange (HIE) on behalf of Medicaid LTC and other providers.

The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) has contracted for work that assists in the development of the health information exchange (HIE) infrastructure. Earlier ASPE-sponsored work identified and applied interoperable health IT standards to a sector of the U.S. health delivery continuum (i.e., long-term/post-acute care (LTPAC) services) that otherwise has not been a priority focus. Specifically, previous ASPE sponsored work has identified and applied: (i) health IT content standards to the nursing home (NH) Minimum Data Set (MDS) and home health agency (HHA) Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS) instruments, and (ii) exchange standards to these assessment instruments and Patient Assessment Summary Documents.

This contract will support previous investments made by the Department – ONC, CMS, and ASPE by advancing the adoption and use of interoperable Health IT standards by LTPAC and other providers.

Specifically, this contract will: build on previous ASPE-sponsored work and will result in a final deliverable that is related to and extends the written deliverables produced under the earlier ASPE contract

). The contract will require the identification and description of how HIE activities in various ONC and State Medicaid programs are leveraging/will leverage interoperable specifications developed under the previous ASPE contract.

Through this contract the contractor will:

1. Review and synthesize certain ONC and Medicaid HIE programs by reviewing documents and engaging in key informant discussions focusing in particular on how HIE on behalf of LTPAC and Behavioral Health (BH) providers is being advanced through the use of interoperable health IT, including the use of: (i) health IT content standards applied to the MDS and OASIS instruments, and (ii) exchange standards to assessment instruments (including Patient Assessment Summary Documents);

2. Review and contribute to activities that are part of the Office of National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) sponsored Standards and Interoperability (S&I) Initiative to advance the use of content and messaging standards for and the interoperable exchange of the Patient Assessment Summary Documents; and

3. Produce a final deliverable synthesizing information learned about ONC and State HIE programs and S&I Initiative activities; and identifying policy and technical activities underway at the Federal and State levels to advance interoperable HIE by LTPAC and BH providers. The synthesis will include a focus in particular on the Health IT content and messaging standards and Patient Assessment Summary Document specifications developed under previous ASPE sponsored work.

Project background.

The use of health information technology (HIT) has the potential to improve quality and patient safety, and decrease costs and inefficiencies. The President and Congress have identified interoperable HIT as a national priority and envision that Medicare and Medicaid will be reformed, at least in part, through Health IT implementation. HHS and the ONC are mandated to develop a nationwide health IT infrastructure that allows for the electronic use and exchange of health information. This contract is contributing to the development of that infrastructure.

This contract is a logical follow-on to an existing sole source contract entitled, “Standardizing Assessments and Supporting Health Information Exchange, ). The existing contract has identified, applied, and secured industry acceptance of health IT content and exchange standards for the federally required nursing home MDS instrument. In addition, the existing contract has identified and applied health IT content standards to the federally required home health OASIS instrument.

Finally, the existing contract re-uses the identified assessment content standards and has assisted in the development of an exchange standard for a Patient Assessment Summary Documents in nursing home and home health agencies.

The contractor for the existing work is:

American Health Information Management Association 233 N Michigan Ave, 21st floor Chicago, IL 60601-5800

A sole source contract ( for Standardizing Assessments and Supporting Health Information Exchange) was awarded to AHIMA to conduct the previous ASPE-sponsored work because:

“AHIMA is uniquely qualified to complete the work required in the Contract entitled, “Standardizing Assessments and Supporting Health Information Exchange” because of their cumulative experiences and expertise in:

1. the development, management and guidance on data and information flow in nursing homes, home health, and variety of other settings;

2. the data content used in and needed by nursing homes, home health, and other settings (including federally-required assessments);

3. convening Subject Matter Experts to identify solutions to health information management problems and identifying HIT solutions to address these problems;

4. demonstrated skills in managing interdisciplinary teams of experts required for complex contracts;

5. applying health information technology standards to administrative requirements including semantic matching for LOINC represented assessment content, including use of web-based semantic matching tools for patient assessment content;

6. working with CAST, IHE, HL7, LOINC; and

7. developing training manuals for the use health information technology clinical terminologies, including chapters on the use LOINC.

This acquisition requires expertise in the workflow of and data needed in nursing homes and home health settings, demonstrated experience and expertise in convening and consulting with subject matter experts and managing interdisciplinary teams, experience in applying health information technology standards and developing training materials related to the use of such standards, and collaborating with a variety of organizations (including standard development organizations).”

For the same reasons described above and because of the expertise and knowledge AHIMA has acquired while performing work required

“Standardizing Assessments and Supporting Health Information Exchange,” AHIMA continues to be uniquely qualified to perform the work required under this new contract.

Under the existing sole source contract HHS has awarded to AHIMA. Under the new sole source contract, HHS estimates the costs to conduct the new work to be approximately .

3. Description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs (including the estimated value).

a. Project title.

“Standardizing Assessments and Supporting Health Information Exchange for LTPAC and BH Providers”

b. Project description.

This contract will: examine how the content and exchange standards, standardized assessments, and Patient Assessment Summary Documents are being used in various Federal and State programs; and will use the mechanisms required in law and in use in the Department to advance the adoption of these standards.

Provide the following information:

Requirement type.

Research & development (R&D) R & D support services Support services (non-R&D) Supplies/equipment Information technology (IT)

Construction Architect-engineer (A & E) services Design-build Other (specify): ____________________

Type of action. Check the appropriate box:

New requirement Follow-on Other (specify):

Proposed contract/order type. Check all that apply:

Firm-fixed-price Other fixed-price (specify, e.g., fixed-price award-fee, fixed-price incentive-fee): __________

Cost-plus-fixed-fee Other cost reimbursement (specify, e.g., cost-plus-award-fee, cost-plus-incentive-fee): ___________

Time and materials Indefinite delivery (specify whether indefinite quantity, definite quantity, or requirements): ___________ Other (specify): ___________ Completion Form Term form

Acquisition identification number.

OS69885

c. Total estimated dollar value and performance/delivery period.

The estimated value of this contract is . The performance period is 12 months.

4. Identification of the statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition

This acquisition is conducted under the authority of 41 United States Code (U.S.C.) 253(c)(1) as set forth in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302- 1.

This acquisition is conducted under the authority of section 4202 of the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996

This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Services Acquisition Reform Act of 2003 (41 U.S.C. 428a).

5. Demonstration that the proposed contractor(s) unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited.

a. Name and address of the proposed contractor(s).

AHIMA Foundation

233 N. Michigan Ave., 21st Floor Chicago, IL 60601-5809 Bonnie Aguda Senior Manager, Grants and Sponsored Programs Bonnie.aguda@ahimafoundation.org T: 312-233-1175

b. Nature of the acquisition and proposed unique qualifications of the contractor(s).

AHIMA is uniquely qualified to complete the work required in the ASPE Contract entitled, ““Standardizing Assessments and Supporting Health Information Exchange for LTPAC and BH Providers because of their cumulative experiences and expertise in:

1. the development, management and guidance on data and information flow in nursing homes, home health, and variety of other settings;

2. the data content used in and needed by nursing homes, home health, and other settings (including federally-required assessments);

3. convening Subject Matter Experts to identify solutions to health information management problems and identifying HIT solutions to address these problems;

4. demonstrated skills in managing interdisciplinary teams of experts required for complex contracts;

5. applying health information technology standards to administrative requirements including identification of health IT semantic matching codes for LOINC represented assessment content;

6. working with standards development organizations including:

CAST, IHE, HL7, LOINC;

7. participating in the ONC sponsored Standards and Interoperability Initiative; and

8. developing training manuals for the use health information technology clinical terminologies, including chapters on the use

LOINC.

This acquisition requires expertise in the workflow of and data needed in nursing homes and home health settings, demonstrated experience and expertise in convening and consulting with subject matter experts and managing interdisciplinary teams, experience in applying health information technology standards and developing training materials related to the use of such standards, and collaborating with a variety of organizations (including standard development organizations).

mailto:Bonnie.aguda@ahimafoundation.org

This acquisition requires knowledge and expertise in: Health IT content and exchange standards for: federally required patient assessment instruments (i.e., nursing home MDS and HHA OASIS instruments) and Patient Assessment Summary documents; knowledge of the clinical workflow in and health information exchange requirements on behalf of long-term and post-acute care (LTPAC) patients; knowledge of standards development organizations and activities related to LTPAC providers/patients; knowledge of and involvement with the ONC Standards and Interoperability Initiative; expertise in convening and consulting with subject matter experts and managing complex and time sensitive projects;

and producing well written, policy relevant, and accessible written deliverables on time.

This contract is a logical follow-on to and builds on the work conducted by and experience and expertise AHIMA has acquired while performing work required “Standardizing Assessments and Supporting Health Information Exchange.”

Based on all of the preceding, AHIMA is uniquely qualified to perform the work required under this new contract.

6. Description of the efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as practicable. Indicate whether a FedBizOpps notice was or will be publicized as required by FAR Subpart 5.2 and, if not, which exception under FAR 5.202 applies

A source sought will be posted on FedBizOpps for 15 days to see if any other offeror can provided the requested services.

7. Determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost/price to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

Price reasonableness was determined by examining the surveying the market place for other potential offerors and acquisition history for the logical follow-on.

This service has been identified by ASPE as having unique capability and providing unparalleled value and efficiency to the agency. Price reasonableness was determined fair and reasonable by researching the historical data regarding the HIE and HIT support services.

8. Description of the market research conducted (see FAR Part 10) and the results, or a statement of the reasons market research was not conducted.

Market Research was conducted by posting a source sought n FedBizOpps for 15 days to see if any other offeror can provided the requested services.

9. Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition.

AHIMA is uniquely qualified to complete the scope of work required for this acquisition. AHIMA performed satisfactorily under the previous ASPE-sponsored contract .

There is no other entity that has expertise in all of the following areas: (i) knowledge of and expertise in applying health IT content and exchange standards for the federally required nursing home MDS and home health OASIS patient assessment instruments and Patient Assessment Summary Documents;

(ii) the data content used in and needed by nursing homes, home health, and other settings (including federally-required assessments); (iii) the development, management and guidance on data and information flow in nursing homes, home health, and variety of other settings; (iv) convening Subject Matter Experts to identify solutions to health information management problems and identifying HIT solutions to address these problems; (v) demonstrated skills in managing interdisciplinary teams of experts required for complex contracts; (vi) working with organizations involved with Health IT standards such as: CAST, IHE, HL7, LOINC; (vii) participating in the ONC sponsored Standards and Interoperability Initiative; and (viii) developing training manuals for the use health information technology clinical terminologies, including chapters on the use LOINC.

This acquisition requires expertise in the workflow of and data needed in nursing homes, home health settings and other settings; demonstrated experience and expertise in convening and consulting with subject matter experts and managing interdisciplinary teams; experience in applying interoperable health information technology content and messaging standards and developing training materials related to the use of such standards; and collaborating with a variety of organizations (including standard development organizations).

10. Listing of sources, if any, that expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisition.

As a result of the source sought that was posted on FedBizOpps ADL Data Systems, Inc. expressed an interest in this requirement. The capability statement submitted by ADL Data System, Inc was reviewed to determine if they were capable of meeting the Government's needs.

11. Statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the required supplies or services.

There are no future plans to acquire the same type of supplies or services.