2. Answers-Responses to RFQ Questions.pdf

1. Will overtime be allowed?

The government does not anticipate that this will be necessary, however, any extra hours worked will be at the discretion of the federal government and coordinated with the vendor.

2. Are these hourly or salary positions?

Vendors will be paid as outlined in the PWS. The vendor is to determine how their employees working on this solicitation are paid. Customer service activities are to be billed as hours.

3. There is no cost estimate form. Is the [attached document] an acceptable format to use for this solicitation, or is there another document/format that is required?

See attached template.

4. Pricing Methodology: Is there a preference or requirement for pricing methodology on this bid. For coding, is per chart required or is hourly an option? For customer service and transcription, is an hourly rate for each job responsibility acceptable or do they prefer a total budget approach.

Section 2.1-2.2 specifies that billing for coding is per record with an Inpatient outlier calculation/adjustment as follows: The actual length of stay of an inpatient visit will vary during a month. In order to calculate accurate turnaround times, inpatient visits that exceed 30 days are considered outliers so for every additional 30 days that an inpatient visit stay accounts for, 1 additional record is added to the daily count of the production at the end of the day’s total.

Customer service and scanning work is to be priced per hour worked.

Transcription is to be priced by line with 65 characters equaling one line (refer to

Reporting and Billing Requirements in the PWS (Section 3.7.1.2).

5. Is this a new requirement or a follow-on/existing requirement with an incumbent vendor?

There is an existing contract in place for these services.

6. If there is an incumbent, would you provide the name of the incumbent contractor, the contract number, and the value?

Medical Records Corporation of Maryland, award #75N90019C00009

7. Are there any page limitations for the technical submission? Is there an overall page limit?

There are no page limitations.

8. How many customer services representatives does contractor have onsite under the

PWS? How many remote staff does contractor currently employ under PWS?

Staff currently working onsite (release of information services, some patient portal support and some telehealth support): 5 FTE

Remote staff for telehealth, patient portal and pre-registration support: 3 FTE

Coders, Transcriptionists, Scanning staff (all remote): the vendor must determine the number of staff they believe will be needed to support the volume of work outlined in the

PWS.

9. What is current # of contract staff performing the tasks outlined? Is there additional space available for personnel on location at the facility?

The vendor must determine how many staff they would require to perform the volume of work outlined in the PWS. No additional onsite space is available other than as outlined in the PWS.

10. Does NIH intend to keep Altera Sunrise Clinical Manager Software or is it the intention to replace in the next fiscal year?

The NIH Clinical Center will be using the Altera platform.

11. Would selected vendor be expected to bring software solutions for each of the criteria (to include or/in addition to transcription software) to the project or will they be granted access to the systems outlined in the scope of work?

No, the contractors performing work outlined in this PWS will have access to all of the existing software applications used in the NIH CC Health Information Management

Division as necessary to support the requirements outlined in the PWS.

12. Would NIH consider outsourcing the dictation services separately due to the request of proof for software ownership thus limiting competition?

The vendor is not responsible for providing proof of ownership. The Dolbey dictation/transcription system currently in place shall be utilized for the performance of this task.

13. Under Scope, pg. 14 of 84 indicates one base and three years -on Sam.gov the PWS state base with two option years. Including base how long is contract duration?

One base year and two option years.

14. The government seeks an experience incumbent to perform customer service, diagnostic and procedural coding, and abstracting, and transcription support services. Under customer service requirement and objectives and throughout the

PWS statements are conflicting, such as “All work under this contract shall be performed remotely from the NIH except for one full time onsite mid-level manager.” Can preregistration services be conducted 100% remote? MRS staff has exceptional expertise in all areas including preregistration services fully done remote for both the Department of Veterans Affairs and Private Sector. The PWS slightly overlaps stating preregistration can be done ‘virtual’ along with other customer service tasks, please advise for efficiency and planning purposes which remote VPN/Citrix will be provided under each task described herein?

Refer to question #8 for the number of current onsite staff numbers in addition to one onsite manager.

Refer to PWS section 7.2.1 and response to question #25 below for VPN/Citrix question.

15. Volume of Work Performed by Pre Registration: How many calls per day are preregistration clerks supposed to ‘connect with patients’ by updating demographic, insurance, spousal insurance information and etc. within 8 hour tour of duty, via remote? We have a script for PreReg services, are the government willing to work with successful incumbent approving script in place or provide it before kick-off-meeting and trainings?

Please refer to section 4.7 of the PWS “Mobile Patient Experience Activity” (this is our pre-registration process). There will be approximately 850-900 pre-registration calls per month.

The vendor must use the script and training provided by the federal government for pre-registration services as pre-registration activities are different for the NIH Clinical Center than other facilities, as we are a clinical research organization that is entirely federally funded and do not bill for services provided.

16. Historic Work Volume: The government did not provide 2023 preregistration calls annually within PWS; how many connected annual calls were made in 2023? Can we quote under this “firm fixed price” contract per connected call price versus hourly rate?

Please refer to section 4.7 of the PWS “Mobile Patient Experience Activity”. There will be approximately 850-900 pre-registration calls per month.

This work is to be billed as customer service hours, not using a firm fixed price.

17. Historic Work Volume: Dictation and Transcription Personnel Specific

Responsibilities: Can the government provide up to date 2023 transcription lines data? Quote consists of dated line totals generated April 2022 – March 2023.

2023 medical report transcription lines (352,786.01 lines total):

3M (Jan-early June) – 180,384.21

Dolbey (early June-Dec) - 172,401.80

Pathology – 6,017 reports

Veterinary Pathology – 1,593 reports

18. Veterinary Pathology Transcription: Do the Government anticipate the Division of

Veterinary Resources training will go over 10 hours and training will be conducted virtual MS Teams?

Training will be conducted virtually. We do not anticipate training will take more than 10 hours.

19. Volume of Diagnostic and Procedural Coding and Abstracting: Will there be any backlog coding support needed? Can the government provide up to date volume, workload assignment, diagnostic and procedural coding, and abstracting for this mission by specialty indicated on pgs. 50-51?

There will be no need for backlog coding support.

The NIH CC does not code by specialty.

Encounter Type 2022

Volume

2023 Volume

Inpatient 2,917

3,376

Outpatient First Registration 6,871 7,528

Telehealth 3,295 5,650

Intensive Outpatient

Procedures

1,214 1,170

Interventional Radiology 987 1,076

Year

Overall Average Length of Stay

8.90

9.00

10.23

9.58

9.06

8.81

Average LOS Behavioral Health

68.78

40.15

36.58

27.98

22.78

14.86

Average LOS Non-Behavioral

Health

7.51

7.69

9.18

8.90

8.37

8.36

Length of Stay

Three-Six Months

Six Months - 1

Year

1 Year plus

20. Clinical Documentation Integrity: We have a successful CDI program in place; will this mission kick-off day one of awarded contract and about how long into contract will the Government request additional staff from incumbent? Confirm the CDI program is fully 100% remote?

The CDI program will be 100% remote. The vendor will work with the NIH CC HIMD to establish a CDI program as specified by the NIH in the PWS, understanding that the

NIH Clinical Center does not bill for any services performed.

21. Under Volume of Work Performed by Customer Service Representatives, Release of

Information and Volume of Work Performed by Patient Engagement, can the government identify assignment of work done 100% remote at contractor’s principle place of business? Government state: access to one laptop computer for pre-registration customer service representative for remote access – how many Pre-

Registration clerks needed for the mission? Provide total preregistration calls per day, per clerks in an 8-hour tour of duty?

Refer to item number 1.2.8.2 in the PWS.

We anticipate that there will be approximately 850-900 pre-registration calls per month.

Scanning work must be completed in the vendor’s local office to facilitate movement of records to the local office and the associated scanning tasks. Other tasks (aside from those that must be accomplished onsite at the NIH CC HIMD facility) may be performed remotely and that location(s) may be determined by the vendor (i.e. personal home offices, etc.).

The federal government will provide equipment/workstations for all staff with the exception of equipment for coders. The contractor must provide those workstations.

22. The PWS state a small business set-aside. Are there any subcontracting limitations contracting a portion of PWS to either a small and or large business? Will the SB be responsible for providing two past performances per company or total of two to satisfy PWS?

As per the details of the RFQ, this procurement is classified under the North American

Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this procurement is # 56110 - Office

Administrative Services (size standard: $12,500,000). This requirement is set aside for small businesses (total small business set aside). All vendors submitting an offer must be small businesses under this NAICS and submit paperwork or SAM registration status showing they are a small business.

23. When will the government provide ‘Schedule B’?

Schedule B refers to the price structure. See attached price template.

24. Government-Furnished Equipment (GFE): It is unclear what equipment (other than laptop) the government provides under the PWS remote portion of services? Please provide clarity.

Government will provide all with the exception of equipment used by coders (see response to question # 21 above)

25. 7.21 p. 63 All contract/subcontract staff whether working onsite in the NIH CC, HIMD or remotely will be required to obtain an NIH identification badge (Personal

Identification Verification (PIV) badge) to access any NIH CC, HIMD resources. This process requires fingerprinting at a Health and Human Services fingerprinting collection site. Contractor/subcontractor staff has the option of obtaining these services and completing the process for obtaining a PIV badge on the main NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland or through one of the remote sites.

However, other place holders within the PWS are unclear i.e., connect through VPN whereas, PIV badge is not stated. Identify what connectivity equipment for remote services will be needed?

In PWS Section 7.2.1: All contract/subcontract staff whether working onsite in the NIH

CC, HIMD or remotely will be required to obtain an NIH identification badge (Personal

Identification Verification (PIV) badge) to access any NIH CC, HIMD resources. This process requires fingerprinting at a Health and Human Services fingerprinting collection site. Contractor/subcontractor staff have the option of obtaining these services and completing the process for obtaining a PIV badge on the main NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland or through one of the remote sites. There are not remote site locations available in all states and on occasion, staff may be required to travel two to three hours to complete this process. The process may require up to two trips to obtain the final identification badge. Information about these remote sites is available here:

https://www.ors.od.nih.gov/ser/dpsac/badge/Pages/badgingremote.aspx. This process can take up to three weeks to complete. Until the staff member has a badge, he/she will be unable to access NIH resources. Contractors or subcontractors located more than a reasonable distance from one of the NIH badging offices and state that they are unwilling to travel beyond driving distance to receive a PIV ID badge will need to consult with their contract manager to determine potential next steps for working through this issue.

In addition, please note additional detail related to the last sentence of the above section:

PIV cards are required for anyone within 3 hours of a badging station. Individuals outside of the 3-hour radius will be placed on a PIV card waiver and be granted exemptions to be able to authenticate either via VPN and RSA token combination (for transcriptionists using government laptops with local Dolbey client installed) or via Citrix

(for coders accessing 3M/Altera EHR). The waiver and PIV exemption require periodic renewal (waiver renewed annually, PIV exemption twice yearly) and will be coordinated by the NIH security team and HIMD COR.

26. In the event inclement weather arises, can staff access through PIV/VPN/Citrix connectivity and perform regular scheduled duties where applicable under this

PWS?

Yes. Applications needed to perform this work, with the exception of those staff working onsite in the government’s office, can be accessed remotely with a PIV/VPN/Citrix badge.

27. How soon will Government Issue and or insert into the PWS SF1449, BPA, and

NDA?

This will not be a Blanket Purchase Agreement. SF1449 or SF347 will be the award documents given to the vendor as the award – that will be made during the award stage.

28. Other than the designated contract administrator/contract manager, program manager, supervisory staff, and onsite/offsite managerial resumes –can contractor provide services resumes described within 15 days of or during the kick-off contract meeting?

Yes, this is acceptable.