SOURCES SOUGHT
Q -- VISN 1 TELERADIOLOGY-BOSTON, TOGUS & BEDFORD VAMC's
- Notice Date
- 4/22/2009
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 621512
— Diagnostic Imaging Centers
- Contracting Office
- Department of Veterans Affairs;VA Boston Healthcare System;Contracting Officer (90C);940 Belmont Street;Brockton MA 02301
- ZIP Code
- 02301
- Solicitation Number
- VA-241-09-RP-0212
- Response Due
- 5/11/2009
- Archive Date
- 6/10/2009
- Point of Contact
- Cheri K. Wicks<br />
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- The Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Boston Healthcare System (VHABHS), has a requirement for teleradiology services consisting of preliminary interpretations for selected radiologic studies (CT, MRI, and ultrasound) transmitted by VHABHS (or VA Medical Centers in Togus, ME and Bedford, MA) between the hours of 6:00pm to 8:00am business days, and 6:00pm Fridays to 8:00am Mondays, including all holidays. We are seeking potential sources for these services. Qualified offerors shall be within a 25 mile radius of the Wext Roxbury campus of VABHS so that images on CD can be sent by taxi cab in the event of a power outage or other inability to utilize the PACS. Sources having the capability of providing these services are invited to submit, via email, a brief capabilities statement (not to exceed 10 pages) no later than May 11, 2009 to the contact listed in this notice. No telephone inquires will be accepted. It is anticipated that a Request for Proposals will be issued mid- to late May, 2009. Contract award is anticipated mid- to late July. A firm fixed price requirements type contract with a base through September 30, 2009 with four (4) 1-year options is anticipated. A.Background. VA Boston Healthcare System (VABHS) is a multi-campus organization containing two main imaging locations: the inpatient facility at West Roxbury and the primary outpatient facility at Jamaica Plain. Additionally, limited imaging is performed at the outpatient, mental health, and chronic care facility at Brockton and at the outpatient clinics in Lowell and Worcester. All imaging locations are connected to a PACS system (Carestream) and images are interpreted centrally. Small numbers of images are received on the PACS from the VA Medical Centers in Togus, ME and Bedford, MA. B. Services 1.Contractor shall provide preliminary interpretations for selected radiologic studies (CT, MRI, and ultrasound) transmitted by VHABHS (or VAMC Togus and Bedford) between the hours of 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. business days, and 6:00 p.m. Fridays to 8:00 a.m. Mondays, including all holidays. Holiday coverage will be between 6:00 p.m. the day before the holiday to 8:00 a.m. the day following the holiday. 2.Contractor shall provide telephonic consultative services during the hours of service; consultations will generally be limited to the selection and protocolling of imaging studies but may include occasional consultations by referring clinicians related to the interpretations provided. 3.Contractor shall access VABHS's PACS images and the requisitions for the examinations, either via the VA's VPN system or another electronic link mutually agreed upon. In the event of a system malfunction, a backup process shall be in place, involving sending of images on CD by taxi cab to the Contractor for preliminary interpretation. 4.Contractor shall fax a preliminary interpretation to the VABHS ordering location and to a VABHS central fax within 60 minutes (30 minutes for images of operative fields and for specifically designated "Critical Tests") of the availability of the image. Interpretations with critical findings will additionally be reported by telephone to the ordering practitioner. 5.Contractor shall provide these diagnostic services within the specified turnaround times for all images transmitted by VABHS except during times of unexpectedly high workload (at least a doubling of the number of images transmitted by VABHS) or severe unanticipated technical or staffing problems. 6.Contractor shall bear the telecommunications cost of communicating the radiology reports and findings back to the VABHS as well as all telecommunications costs relating to transmission of the diagnostic images. 7.Contractor shall be responsible for installing and maintaining any hardware and software needed to receive images at the reading location, and will adhere to applicable federal regulations protecting confidentiality of patient medical data. 8.Contractor shall provide medical services under this agreement by physicians who are board-certified in radiology, duly licensed and in good standing under the laws of a US state or territory. Preference shall be given to a contractor whose radiologists practice primarily or exclusively in the subspecialty of emergency radiology. 9.Contractor shall ensure that all of the physicians providing medical services under this Agreement have medical staff appointments and clinical privileges to practice at the VABHS. No physician shall provide medical services under this Agreement unless he or she maintains such privileges. 10.Contractor shall ensure that all physicians providing services are covered by professional liability insurance in the amount of $1,000,000 per claim and $3,000,000 in the annual aggregate. 11.Contractor shall use reasonable efforts to report any deficiencies in image quality back to VABHS in a timely manner. 12.Contractor must be within a 25 mile radius of the West Roxbury campus of VABHS so that images on CD can be sent by taxi cab in the event of a power outage or other inability to utilize the PACS. OBLIGATIONS OF VABHS 1.VHABHS shall be responsible for making VPN or other mutually-approved access available to the contractor for accessing images (current and prior) in the VABHS PACS and for accessing the requisitions for examinations. 2.VABHS shall scan the faxed preliminary interpretation into the PACS and thereby incorporate into the examination as an official part of the medical record, and for review by the VA radiologist providing the final interpretation. 3.VABHS may conduct independent peer review of interpretations provided by the Contractor in accordance with established policies, for the purposes of quality assurance, appropriate utilization, and in the setting of any questions involving standard of care. If any serious discrepancy between the final interpretation and the preliminary interpretation is found, VABHS will notify the Contractor accordingly for their review. 4.In accordance with JC standards regarding periodic performance monitoring of contract physicians, VABHS shall document the performance of physicians serving on this contract on an annual basis. These measures will be applied to all physicians serving on this contract. The specific measures which will be evaluated include: a.Timeliness of reporting (report turnaround time) b.Productivity 5.VABHS shall maintain medical records as required by the Department of Veterans Affairs, other applicable federal regulations and Joint Commission (JC) standards regarding care to patients and will make such records available to contractor as allowed by law. 6.VABHS certifies that its facilities shall be in compliance with all quality assurance and other requirements of applicable federal and Commonwealth of Massachusetts regulations. VHABHS certifies that all applicable federal, state, and local laws, rules, regulations (including the state and local fire and safety codes) are adhered to. The VABHS will operate its facilities so that it shall maintain all necessary license, permits, consents, and approvals from all governmental and accrediting agencies that have jurisdiction over the operation of such facilities. This includes the JC. GENERAL 1.Other Responsibilities: a.)Upon request, contractor shall provide VA with information regarding: i.pending or previously successful challenges against professional staff certification of licensure; ii pending or closed malpractice claims against professional staff; iii satisfactory performance record based on peer review and other performance improvement programs. i.Physicians and others serving under this contract shall perform services in accordance with JC guidelines and VA Boston Healthcare System policies and regulations. 2.Contract Administration. a) This Contract will be effective beginning date of contract through mm/dd/yyyy. 1.VA may review and evaluate the quality of professional and administrative services to determine contractor compliance and quality of service. 2.All professional services rendered by the contractor or its health-care providers are rendered in the capacity of an independent contractor. Contractor shall be responsible for health examinations income tax withholding, social security payments, workers compensation, professional liability insurance, and all other employment-related matters. 3.Contractor shall submit invoices to: Department of Veterans Affairs- Financial Services Center, P.O. Box 149971, Austin, Texas 78714-8971. VA shall review invoices on line to ensure that services rendered are the services for which contractor requests payment. VA shall pay proper invoices monthly in arrears for services rendered during the previous month. Vendors shall not submit invoices for less than $2,500. These invoices shall be held by the Vendor until the services being invoiced exceed $2,500. All invoices shall be certified by the VA prior to payment.
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