SOURCES SOUGHT
R -- National Coding Services
- Notice Date
- 9/30/2002
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- Contracting Office
- Attn: Department of Veterans Affairs, Acquisition Operations Servic= e, (049A3), 810 Vermont Avenue, N.W., Washington, District Of Columbia 2042= 0
- ZIP Code
- 00000
- Solicitation Number
- 101-13-02
- Point of Contact
- Contracting Officer - Marcia Rodrigues, Contract Specialist, (202)= 273-8750
- E-Mail Address
-
Email your questions to Marcia Rodrigues
(marcia.rodrigues@mail.va.gov)
- Description
- The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is actively soliciting source= s, comments, suggestions, and ideas for the Veterans Health Administration's (VHA) Business Office coding services acquisition.=20 This information will be used to assist in the development of a Request for Proposal. THIS IS NOT A FORMAL SOLICITATION, NOR A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL, AND THERE IS NO INTENT TO AWARD A CONTRACT BASED ON INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. The cut-off for industry information is 18 October 2002 and should be emailed to marcia.rodrigues@mail.va.gov or faxed to (202)273-7458, ATTN: Ms. Marcia Rodrigues Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Veterans Health Administration=92s (VHA) Business Office is seeking information from industry on the commercial practices employed by industry for medical records coding services and/or related medical records functions that cover a wide range of medical specialties for selected VHA facilities.=20 Related medical records functions include: providing medical record coding/documentation training that is tailored to the healthcare providers, quality control/auditing services and consultative services to improve the revenue cycle. This information will be used to assist in development of a Request for Proposal. Below VA has provided information regarding the purpose, scope, and background of the project; and specific questions that we would like industry to respond to regarding commercial practices for medical records coding. =20 Purpose The purpose of the project is to improve medical records coding for veteran=92s health care encounters. =20 Scope=20 This project includes all VA Medical Centers, their affiliated clinics and other VA authorized health care services. Background: =20 1. =09The Under Secretary for Health directed that as of October 1, 1996, VHA facilities were to begin collecting and reporting coded diagnostic, procedural and practitioner data for all ambulatory care encounters. While VHA facilities had been electronically reporting information about each outpatient visit to the national Outpatient Clinic System (OPC), the new requirement forced a major shift in the way VHA medical centers collected and stored ambulatory care information. Outpatient information is entered through the Veterans Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) Patient Care Encounter (PCE) or Appointment Manager (AM). Due to increased coding demands, shortage of qualified coding specialists and change in reimbursement structure, VHA is experiencing a coding backlog and requires additional coding services. 2. Facilities now report patient identity, date and time of service, practitioners Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) (formerly HCFA) Individual Provider Taxonomy type code, place of service, active problems(s) (ICD-9-CM codes) and service(s) (CPT codes) for every inpatient and ambulatory encounter, professional inpatient service and/or ancillary service. 3. The value of PCE data to managers and researchers depends on how accurately it portrays the actual clinical events that take place in the medical center. Data validity begins with practitioners accurately recording diagnoses and procedures. That information must be accurately entered into the facility=92s computer system (VistA). 4. Beginning September 1, 1999, CPT-4 procedure coding is used as a basis for facility and professional charges for bills submitted to third party carriers. Coders are held responsible for the accuracy of codes and compliance with federal legislation and VHA guidelines. Questions:=20 Please respond in writing to the following questions:=20 Background information: Name of firm Address, phone number and point of contact Size of the firm (both number of employees and receipts) Brief description of relevant experience in this field, including the number of years providing coding services to health care organizations. Questions: =B7=09Would vendor be interested in participating in a coding contract where contract award would go to multiple vendors? =20 =B7=09What, in your experience, would be the best pricing structure for VA and why? i.e. price per hour, price per encounter, discharge, ambulatory surgery,=20 etc.? =20 =B7=09Please provide pricing estimates for: =091) Outpatient Professional Services Coding =092) Outpatient Facility Coding =093) Outpatient Coding with PCE Data Entry - PCE is a VA specific term for patient care encounter. The private sector would have a repository for recording coded data in conjunction with a patient encounter =094) Inpatient Professional Services coding =095) Inpatient Professional Services coding with Data Entry =096) Inpatient Facility Coding =097) Inpatient Coding with PTF Data Entry =09=09- PTF is a VA specific term for patient treatment file. The private sector may use a similar repository or abstracting system for inpatient hospitalizations used to capture and store ICD or DRG information. =097) E/M Documentation Training =098)=20 Ambulatory surgery professional services coding =099) Laboratory coding =0910) Radiology coding =0911) Coding/billing process improvement consulting =B7=09What is a reasonable "turn around" time from the time the encounter is identified for an encounter or discharge to be coded and uploaded? =B7=09What is a reasonable number of encounters that a coder can produce in an 8-hour day? =B7=09Would the requirement of credentialed coders preclude you from participating? =B7=09What kind of credentials does your company accept for coders? =B7=09Would a "3-year coding experience" requirement preclude you from participating? =B7=09Would an alternative requirement that coders be placed "on-site" at a VHA facility preclude you from participating? =B7=09Would an alternative requirement that coders code remotely either on line or on paper preclude you from participating? =B7=09VHA has stringent security requirements, including not being able to transmit individually identified information across the Internet. What is your experience with your current customers as far a security is concerned? =09 =B7=09Would adhering to VHA's security requirements, including our HIPAA business associate agreement, preclude you from participating? =20 =B7=09Would use of an encoder product required for each coder, for each encounter, preclude you from participating? =B7=09What would you recommend as successful quality control measures? =B7=09What is your definition of accuracy for: =B7=09 An inpatient facility encounter =B7=09Patient professional services for one inpatient stay =B7=09An outpatient professional service encounter? =B7=09What would you recommend for successful productivity measures? =B7=09What kind of management and statistical reports to the VA facility do you recommend? How often do you recommend providing them?
- Web Link
-
RFI 101-13-02
(http://www.bos.oamm.va.gov/solicitation?number=3D101-13-02)
- Record
- SN00178722-W 20021002/020930213159 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
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