Strategic Sourcing & Acquisition Services Saratoga Street Offices

220 Arch St., Rm. 02-160 Baltimore, MD 21201 Phone: 410.706.8880

Fax: 410.706.8577 www.umaryland.edu/procurement

TO: All Interested Vendors

FROM: Elle Crestborn, Buyer

RE: Response to Questions for RFP No. 91221EC

This list of Questions and Responses #1 is being issued to clarify certain information contained in the above-named Request for Proposal.

1. Question: Please provide the total number of Consortium-funded service provider grantees, along with the number of clinics/organizations represented by each grantee and the number of providers at each clinic/organization.

Answer: There are 170 service provider grantees (grant awards), representing 109 unique provider organizations. Organizations may hold one or more Consortium grants; therefore, a single organization may be represented by multiple grantees when it provides services in more than one jurisdiction. The number of providers at each organization is not available.

2. Question: Please verify whether the number of grantees is expected to remain unchanged during the one-year engagement period. If any increase is anticipated, please provide the estimated number of additional grantees and the expected timeframe for onboarding.

Answer: The number of grantees will not change during FY27 grant period (July 1-June 30, 2027). The number of FY28 grantees will be approximately the same as the FY27 grantees, and many will continue from the previous grant year. FY28 grantees will begin on July 1, 2027.

3. Question: Please clarify whether the contractor's role is limited to providing consultative guidance, technical assistance, and support related to credentialing and provider enrollment activities, or if the contractor is expected to prepare, submit, and manage payer contracting, credentialing and enrollment applications on behalf of grantees.

Answer: One of the roles of the contractor will be to support grantees with credentialing and provider enrollment through technical assistance and support;

while the contractor may assist grantees by reviewing documentation, answering questions and providing technical guidance related to credentialing and provider http://www.umaryland.edu/procurement enrollment, the contractor is not expected to prepare, submit, or manage credentialing, enrollment, or payer contracting applications on behalf of grantees.

As outlined in the RFP, the role is broader than supporting credentialing and provider enrollment. The contractor is also expected to support grantees in activities such as aligning services with reimbursable billing categories, working through compliance issues, and troubleshooting billing challenges. Further, the contractor is expected to stay informed about fee-for-service policy changes and provide guidance to service providers and the Consortium, including the impact of HR1 and how to best support families to maintain their Medicaid coverage.

4. Question: Given that the consultant may not have direct responsibility for billing operations and may not have access to grantee systems, please clarify whether the engagement is intended to be consultative in nature (training, technical assistance, recommendations, and policy guidance) or whether the consultant is expected to perform ongoing operational analysis of billing performance, Medicaid revenues, and reimbursement outcomes. If ongoing analysis is expected, please specify the data sources, reports, and system access that will be provided.

Answer: The engagement will be consultative in nature as it relates to fee-for-service with no direct access to grantee systems. As part of the larger initiative, the evaluation team from the National Center for School Mental Health may collect some fee-for-service data from grantees (e.g., number of clients served, service codes used, productivity). The consultant will be asked to provide suggestions on what data could reasonably be collected and could also provide insight on findings.

5. Question: Please describe the process for communicating billing issues to the vendor, including denied claims, insufficient documentation, reimbursement delays, and other revenue cycle challenges. Will individual grantees be responsible for providing supporting information, reports, remittance advice (ERAs), and related documentation directly to the vendor? If so, please outline the expected method for securely transmitting this information.

Answer: Individual grantees will be responsible for providing information necessary to communicate billing challenges and will be encouraged to share this information in advance for meetings in a manner that does not include personally identifiable information (PII). It will be the responsibility of the individual grantees to provide any relevant information in a HIPAA-compliant manner.

6. Question: What EHR, practice management, billing, and clearinghouse systems are currently utilized by participating grantees? Please identify the systems in use.

Answer: EPIC is likely the most common commercial EHR system used by our grantees. We also have vendors who have created their own EHR system. In their applications, grantees were not asked to identify specific EHR system they use – many just indicated that they have an EHR system.

7. Question: Will the consultant be granted direct access to grantee EHR, practice management, billing, and/or clearinghouse systems? If not, what reports and data extracts will be provided to support the consultant's work?

Answer: The consultant will not have direct access to grantee EHR, practice management, billing, and/or clearinghouse systems. For individual consultation, the consultant can request information needed to answer questions; the grantee may choose to screenshare or share documents in-person during meetings.

8. Question: What data sources, reports, and performance metrics will be made available to the consultant for evaluating billing performance, reimbursement outcomes, and Medicaid revenue opportunities?

Answer: The consultant will provided grantee responses about their status of billing Medicaid. In addition, as part of the larger initiative, the evaluation team from the National Center for School Mental Health may collect some fee-for-service data from grantees (e.g., number of clients served, service codes used, productivity). The consultant will be asked to provide suggestions on what data could reasonably be collected and could also provide insight on findings.

9. Question: Do participating organizations utilize clearinghouses? If so, will clearinghouse reports, claim status reports, rejection reports, and remittance files be made available to the consultant?

Answer: We did not collect data on whether participating organizations use clearinghouses. If a provider has access to e these reports and has a question related to them, it will be an individual provider decision as to whether they are willing to share these with you. The Consortium will not make this a requirement to be able to receive consultation.

10. Question: What percentage of participating grantees are currently enrolled as Medicaid providers and actively billing for services?

Answer: The Consortium is not able to pull this information at this time. Part of the request for a consultant includes creating a workflow that helps to gather this information from grantees easily.

11. Question: For grantees not currently enrolled, what barriers have been identified that prevent participation in fee-for-service reimbursement programs?

Answer: Common barriers identified include:

· Organization only provides services that are fee-for-service eligible, such as Tier 1, prevention, etc.

· Organization is not a Medicaid-eligible entity.

· Organization is working towards becoming an OMHC and/or getting their clinical staff accredited by Medicaid.

· Organization could be eligible, but does not know where to begin/does not have independent capacity to become a Medicaid-billable entity.

12. Question: Please clarify the consultant's expected role in implementing and optimizing billing practices. Is the consultant expected to provide recommendations and best practices only, or actively participate in operational billing workflow redesign and implementation?

Answer: The consultant will be expected to provide recommendations and best practices related to implementing and optimizing billing practices. Through individual support, the consultant may offer operational billing workflow redesign and implementation recommendations versus active participation in the potential changes.

13. Question: What level of support is expected for each individual grantee (e.g., monthly meetings, individual consultations, onsite visits, on-demand support, group training sessions, email support, etc.)?

Answer: Level of support will vary significantly by grantee. While some will need significant support with startup activities like credentialing and enrollment via several individual meetings, email exchange, etc., others have their systems in place and may require occasional support. In addition to individual grantee support, the contractor will also provide broader technical assistance to grantees through training sessions and office hour support. For a small number of grantees, onsite visits could be indicated related to being able to have access to their billing information.

14. Question: Would UMB accept 5+ years of consultation experience around Medicaid billing for school district health services as well as private insurance billing to early intervention providers in lieu of experience explicitly for community providers offering school-linked services?

Answer: We would only accept the 5-plus years of consultation experience if the school district health services experience, as well as private insurance billing to early intervention providers, included non-school employed staff (i.e., community partners).

15. Question: Can the vendor assume that it does not need to provide the billing/claiming platform used by providers?

Answer: Yes, this assumption is correct.

16. Question: In what city would in person meetings be held? Would UMB allow for any virtual attendance for some meetings?

Answer: Most meetings are expected to be conducted virtually. However, some in-person meetings will be required, such as quarterly Consortium meetings if the consultant is invited to provide updates or presentations (Annapolis, MD), and potential, occasional in-person consultations across the state with grantees when needed.

17. Question: How many years back does UMB wish vendors to supply staff employment history?

Answer: Please supply employment history of the last 5 years and/or any employment experience related to the role outlined in the proposal.

18. Question: Based on the price proposal sheet, should vendors assume that UMB desires a fixed price for this scope of work rather than an hourly rate for staff billed based on time worked?

Answer: UMB desires a fixed price for the scope of work that will be able to meet all deliverables outlined in the proposal across the whole year. For quarterly invoicing, your organization would need to document actual costs related to the work to be reimbursed.

19. Question: If UMB requires a fixed price, is UMB open to payment based on agreed upon deliverables throughout the contract year?

Answer: The University of Maryland Baltimore requests the supplier to invoice on a quarterly basis, evenly distributed; contractor will also be required to provide quarterly deliverable reports.

20. Question: Is there an anticipated budget range or not-to-exceed amount for this engagement that vendors should factor into the Total Consulting Fee requested in Appendix I?

Answer: Information not available.

21. Question: Section V.C requires that a Financial Condition or Annual Report be included in the Compliance with RFP Specifications section. Please confirm whether an audited financial statement is required, or whether a CPA-reviewed statement, tax return, or comparable document will be accepted.

Answer: Please provide a recent CPA-reviewed financial statement. This information can be labeled as confidential.

22. Question: Section V.E states that vendors must submit “the required number of copies” of the proposal, while Section I.D specifies that all proposals are submitted electronically via eMMA. Please confirm whether any physical copies are required in addition to the eMMA electronic submission and, if so, how many.

Answer: No physical copies are required; please submit all materials electronically through eMMA.

23. Question: Would UMB consider extending the proposal due date to allow vendors additional time to assess how UMB’s responses to vendors’ questions impact their proposals?

Answer: No, we cannot extend the proposal at this time.