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FBO DAILY - FEDBIZOPPS ISSUE OF FEBRUARY 13, 2016 FBO #5195
DOCUMENT

Q -- Retail Pharmacy Immunizations - Attachment

Notice Date

2/11/2016
 

Notice Type

Attachment
 

NAICS

621999 — All Other Miscellaneous Ambulatory Health Care Services
 

Contracting Office

Department of Veterans Affairs;VA Denver Acquisition & Logistics Center;(003A4D);555 Corporate Circle;Golden CO 80401-5621
 

ZIP Code

80401-5621
 

Solicitation Number

VA79116N0009
 

Response Due

3/4/2016
 

Archive Date

5/3/2016
 

Point of Contact

Caroline West
 

Small Business Set-Aside

N/A
 

Description

? DEAPARTMENT OF VETERAN AFFAIRS REQUEST FOR INFORMATION 1.0PURPOSE This is a SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE / REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI); not a pre-solicitation notice or solicitation for proposals/quotations. Pursuant to FAR Part 10 (Market Research), the purpose of this notice is to: 1)Determine if sources capable of satisfying the agency's requirements exist; 2)Determine if commercial items suitable to meet the agency's needs are available or could be modified to meet the agency's requirements; and 3)Determine the commercial practices of company's engaged in providing the needed service or supply. Pursuant to FAR Part 6 and FAR Part 19, competition and set-aside decisions may be based on the results of this market research; The Veterans Affairs Denver Acquisition & Logistics Center, in support of Veterans Health Administration (VHA), is contemplating the need and requirements for the issuance of the influenza vaccinations for eligible Veterans at retail pharmacies. The VA is interested in industry standards for real-time eligibility requests, and back end claims processing procedures and systems necessary to complete the transactions. The purpose of this RFI is to provide interested parties the opportunity to inform VA of their capabilities to perform these services, for VA to gain a better understanding of industry practices and resources associated with the Health Information Exchange technologies. The VA utilizes several platforms, messages and outlets for Health data exchange including but not limited to the Sequoia project which certifies the provider/retail pharmacy access to the Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record (VLER) health information exchange project which leverages the eHealth Exchange to exchange health information over a secure Internet, referred to as the VLER eHealth Exchange, and the processes for obtaining Veterans' consent directives authorizations, restrictions, revocations, claims. VLER Health is a program that shares certain portions of the Electronics Health Record (EHR) with other entities. VLER Health leverages the eHealth Exchange infrastructure to exchange electronic health information with non-VA healthcare providers that are also participating in the eHealth Exchange. VA and participating private health care provider organizations exchange data over a secure network. The eHealth Exchange is a collection of standards, protocols, legal agreements, specifications, and services that enables the secure exchange of health information over the Internet. It provides a common platform for health information exchange across diverse entities, within communities and across the country. Other projects include but are not limited to, ChangeHealth (formerly EMDEON), EDI, BHIE, HL7, and FHIE among others. This RFI is to understand the participants, boundaries and any additional information interested parties are willing to provide. The VA is interested in the participation of non-VA entities and their capability to become a member of the eHealth Exchange network (VLER), and ChangeHealth and utilizing this exchange for vaccinations information exchange as well as the backend claim processing and payment. The information submitted in response to this announcement and questionnaire will be used for Market Research purposes to determine sources for this requirement. THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION FOR OFFERS/PROPOSALS. VA IS NOT OBLIGATED TO ISSUE A SOLICIATION AS A RESULT OF THIS RFI. THIS IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. 2.0DESCRIPTION VA records show that, since August 1, 2014, it administered over 1.8 Million doses of the flu immunization. VA identified 11,386 patients with lab-confirmed flu during the 2014-2015 flu seasons. In addition, 3,552 VA patients had influenza-coded hospitalizations in VA during the 2014-2015 flu seasons. Of those, 73% percent of influenza hospitalizations are among VA patients 65 years old. VA is interested in continuing to advance the convenience of providing immunizations at national retail pharmacy providers combined with integrated immunization health records to increase access to influenza vaccinations as well as other vaccinations, to improve claims and proper payment, and improve overall immunization rates for Veterans. VA piloted Veteran Flu immunization in the 2015 flu season with Walgreens with great success. VA currently has solutions in place for the electronic sharing of health information. The VA uses eHealth exchange (http://sequoiaproject.org/ehealth-exchange/) in support of the Sequoia Project (http://sequoiaproject.org/) which allows organizations to become a participant in the eHealth exchange community. The Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record (VLER) is neither an Information Technology program nor an information service provider. Instead, VLER is a multi-faceted business and technology initiative that includes a portfolio of health, benefits, personnel, and administrative information sharing capabilities. We have two active projects underway as part of the VLER Health Program, which are the eHealth Exchange and Direct projects. VA is interested in the Retail Pharmacies ability to register for use of the VLER program and the ChangeHealth services so the VA can directly exchange health information through VLER and claims processing information through ChangeHealth services. VA is interested in advancing the national program to acquire influenza, for any Veteran regardless of 3rd party insurance coverage for the 2016-2017 flu seasons. The purpose of this request for information is to further understand what Retail Pharmacies have the ability to sign up for VLER and ChangeHealth for exchanging eligibility, health information, and claims processing, payment. VA is asking for Retail Pharmacies to sign up with the Sequoia project and ChangeHealth to integrate bi-directional electronic messaging, which would include; verification of eligibility, and claims processing for vaccinations at retail pharmacies. The VA utilized eHealth Exchange which is designed to give VA clinicians, providers, as well as partnered private or public healthcare providers access to patient information that has been authorized to be shared by the Veteran. The eHealth Exchange is a query-based tool that exchanges veteran healthcare information with integrated healthcare partners providing healthcare services to a veteran. The information is primarily displayed as a summary within a generated document known as a Continuity of Care Document (C-CDA, C32, and/or C62) as well as any associated clinical notes. VA also is currently integrated with ChangeHealth (formerly Emdeon) for Insurance eligibility checks, for instance pre-claim eligibility checks 270/271 eligibility and 837 claim transactions. VA is requesting companies to respond with the ability to sign up for VLER and ChangeHealth services in order to become a partner with VA to provide influenza vaccinations to Veterans for the 2016-2017 Flu seasons for free. The Sequoia project is one program VA currently is engaged in and we request industry understanding of availability and which program will fulfill all the needs of the Retail Pharmacy Vaccination program. The VA also is connected to the ChangeHealth service for back end claims processing and payment. The VA is also interested in the internal and external process communication/advertising/campaign to inform the Veteran community of this vaccination program. The VA plans to partner with Retail Pharmacies to communicate the Flu shot program to all Veterans internally and look to the Retail Pharmacies to provide a communication campaign on their own to drive Veterans to use the program All Contractor and subcontractor personnel shall be subject to the same Federal security and privacy laws, regulations, standards and VA policies as VA, including the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. §552a, and VA personnel, regarding information and information system security. Contractors must follow policies and procedures outlined in VA Directive 6500, Information Security Program which is available at: http://www1.va.gov/vapubs and its handbooks to ensure appropriate security controls are in place. The Contractor will have access to Sensitive Information contained in Veterans' or Service members' records. All Contractor's and subcontractor's personnel working with VA Sensitive Information are subject to the same investigative requirements as those of regular VA appointees or employees who have access to the same types of information. The level of background security investigation will be in accordance with VA Directive 0710, Handbook 0710, which are available at: http://www1.va.gov/vapubs and VHA Directive 0710 and Implementation Handbook 0710.01, which are available at: http://www1.va.gov/vhapublications/index.cfm. Contractors are responsible for screening their employees. 3.0 DISCLAIMER This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation. Additionally, this RFI does not obligate the Government to the issuance of a Request for Proposal. All information received in response to the RFI that is marked Proprietary will be handled accordingly. Responses to the RFI will not be returned. In accordance with FAR 15.202 (e), responses to this notice are not an offer and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. 4.0 SUBMISION AND CONTACT INFORMATION Please submit responses to the questionnaire via email in Microsoft Office format by 03/04/2016 to the Contracting Office at the below listed address. You may also submit supplemental hardcopy materials such as brochures etc. to the Contracting Specialist Caroline West at the same address. All supplemental material must be received by deadline date. Email and hardcopy responses should be mailed to the following address: Email: caroline.west@va.gov and courtesy copy to: terance.hannnigan@va.gov. Mail: VA Denver Acquisition & Logistics Center 555 Corporate Ave Golden, CO 80401 WRITTEN RESPONSES: If providing a written response to the following questions, please submit not later than 03/04/2016 to caroline.west@va.gov. Questionnaire Name of Organization/Corporation: Corporate Address: Basic Corporate Information: DUNS Number: Point of Contact Name & Title: Phone Number: Email Address: Socio-Economic Category (if known): 0 HUBZone 0 8(a) 0 Small Business 0 Veteran Owned Small Business 0 Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business 0 Women Owned Small Business North American Industry Classification System Code (NAICS), please list all codes: General Services Administration, Federal Supply Schedule information (if applicable): Additional Information: QUESTIONS - Please provide the following information: 1.A brief narrative describing the capabilities of your organization to become certified in the VHA VLER eHealth Exchange program and the ChangeHealth services 2.What experience does your organization have with EDI, Eligibility checks, for instance pre-claim eligibility checks 270/271 eligibility and 837 claim transactions? 3.What limitations, if any, are there on your organizations capacity in terms of number of immunizations/transactions it could handle per day, per week, per month? 4.If your company typically or would intend to subcontract for such a contract, please indicate the estimated percentage of work to be performed by your company if you were awarded a contract for these services as the result of a Request for Proposal (RFP). Additionally, indicate which types of services your organization typically will subcontract. 5.What capabilities do you have to provide outreach communications to the Veteran population, for example website postings, posters, table tents, social media blasts, blogs etc.?
 

Web Link

FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/VA/VADDC791/VADDC791/VA79116N0009/listing.html)
 

Document(s)

Attachment
 

File Name: VA791-16-N-0009 VA791-16-N-0009_1.docx (https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=2556888&FileName=VA791-16-N-0009-000.docx)

Link: https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=2556888&FileName=VA791-16-N-0009-000.docx

 

Note: If links are broken, refer to Point of Contact above or contact the FBO Help Desk at 877-472-3779.
 

Record

SN04017580-W 20160213/160211234217-748f08ded73d78abb24a68391a6cc3fb (fbodaily.com)
 

Source

FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)

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