Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Clinical Peer Review for Quality Management

Pre-Solicitation Notice

Clinical Peer Review for Quality Management



The Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), Strategic Acquisition Center - Frederick (SAC-F), 321 Ballenger Center Drive, Suite 125, Frederick, MD 21703 intends to issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) for contractor services to provide clinical peer review services for quality management.



As the largest Federal provider of health care with 152 medical centers and 732 associated outpatient clinics, the Veterans Health Administration's (VHA) clinical peer review program is a critical element of quality management and demonstrates the agency's commitment to provide the highest quality care possible for Veterans.



Clinical peer review is defined to include critical reviews of an episode of care performed by a peer and/or group of peers. A peer is an individual of similar education, training, licensure, and clinical privileges or functional statements. Clinical peer review, when conducted systematically and credibly, fosters collaborative learning and can result in both immediate and long-term improvements in care by revealing areas for improvement in either provider practice or local processes of care. VHA Directive 2010-025 describes the current VHA policy on clinical peer review for quality management in detail. In addition, contract will include conducting clinical reviews to provide medical advisory opinions related to standard of care determinations.



Clinical peer review may be conducted for many possible indications including the following:



i. Mortality reviews

ii. Major surgical morbidity

iii. All completed suicides and suicide attempts within 30 days of an episode of care or encounter with a VHA health provider

iv. Unexpected or negative outcomes

v. Concerns raised by leadership

vi. Concerns raised by other facility staff

vii. Incidents identified through automated screens of events and occurrence

viii. Tort claims



The Contractor is expected to:



a. Assess the accuracy and adequacy of peer review conducted internally within any VA Medical Center (VAMC) through an audit of randomly selected cases, to include high risk cases.

b. Provide standardized feedback about individual VAMCs and VHA that identifies opportunities to improve care, as well as improve the process of internal peer review.

c. Provide external expertise and conduct the primary peer review of selected episodes of care, either upon request of the facility (Facility-Requested Review) or for other special circumstances, Triggered Reviews.

d. Provide external expertise and conduct the primary review of episodes of care for management review purposes. These reviews will not be protected from legal discovery under FOIA, but the contractor will not be required to be deposed.

e. Estimated number of annual reviews is: 1000 Facility-Requested Reviews, 170 Triggered Reviews, 500 Medical Advisory Opinions and 4000 Audit Reviews. Types and quantities of reviews may fluctuate based on the need of VA.



NAICS AND SIZE STANDARD:



813920 - Professional Organizations; $14 million.



CONTRACT TYPE:



A single-award Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract will be awarded for this effort.



PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE:



Five years.



TYPE:



Unrestricted.



In accordance with Veterans Affairs Acquisition Regulation (VAAR) 808.405-2 which requires 852.215-70, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) and Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB) Evaluation Factors, the Government will assign evaluation credit for an Offeror (prime Offeror) which is a SDVOSB or a VOSB. Non-Veteran Offerors proposing to use SDVOSBs or VOSBs as Subcontractors will receive some consideration under this evaluation factor.



SOLICITATION RELEASE DATE:



The solicitation will be issued and made available on the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) website: http://www.fedbizopps.gov on or about February 28, 2014, with proposals due on or about March 31, 2014. Award is anticipated for May 28, 2014. This takes into account a ramp-up process in which reviewers will need National Agency Check with Inquiries (NACI) background checks to be processed by the Security Investigations Center and facilitated by the Office of Quality, Safety & Value, Risk Management Program. The expectation of VHA is that the contractor will be ready to begin completing reviews and collecting/analyzing data October 1, 2014. These dates are subject to change.



Specific information pertaining to this procurement will be available in the solicitation. You can access these files from the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) website, www.fbo.gov. It is the responsibility of all potential offerors to monitor the FBO website for any amendments, updates, responses to questions and answers, etc.





SYSTEM FOR AWARD MANAGEMENT (SAM):



To be eligible for award, contractors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) data base at www.sam.gov.



POINT-OF-CONTACT FOR QUESTIONS:



Questions concerning this announcement should be directed to the Contract Specialist (Tamara.Dean@va.gov) using the e-mail link provided. Specific questions pertaining to this procurement are not being accepted at this time. Once the solicitation is issued there will be ample time provided to contractors for questions.