Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, 2101 East Jefferson Street, Suite 601, Rockville, Maryland, 20852

R -- QUALITY MEASUREMENT NETWORK SOL AHCPR-96-0005 POC Contact Point, Al Deal, Contracting Officer, 301/594-1445 The purpose of the Quality Measurement Network (QMNet) is to build a more comprehensive, publicly accessible quality measurement resource that emphasizes a public-private partnership approach. Through Internet, mail, fax, telephone and in person (e.g., meetings and conferences) mechanisms, the QMNet contractor will be expected to: (1) Develop a viable business plan that will use a public-private partnership approach to transform the Qmnet from a government-funded resource to an independent, self supporting organization; (2) In consultation with AHCPR, recruit and support a technical expert panel (TEP) that will meet twice a year to provide technical and substantive advice to the contractor on setting priorities for expanding the database entitled CONQUEST (computerized needs oriented quality measurement evaluation system) through the addition of measure sets and measures, evaluating clinical literature, assessing how to integrate guidelines and clinical effectiveness information with the construction or selection of measures, advances in or issues related to research on and applications of clinical performance measurement in the private and public sectors, and the development of a strategy to transition the QMNet to a viable public-private partnership; (3) Develop, implement and maintain a method to register and monitor requests for a CONQUEST user guide and databases as well as technical assistance and to provide descriptive information on the types of users; (4) Design, test, implement and support a QMNet for clinical performance measurement that builds upon the CONQUEST 1.0 prototype classification scheme; evaluate the extent to which the framework and databases of CONQUEST meet the clinical performance measurement needs of public and private users and modify it where necessary; identify additional measures and measure sets; analyze, evaluate; prioritize and add measures and conditions to CONQUEST databases; and provide technical assistance to users on the most effective ways to use CONQUEST and QMNet related resources; (5) Hold annual conferences to facilitate the exchange of information on clinical performance measurement issues; (6) Identify gaps in measure sets and identify areas of clinical performance measurement in need of further research and development; (7) Investigate the feasibility of implementing a comparative, bench marking data repository for clinical performance measures. No telephone requests for the solicitation will be honored. Telefax requests for the solicitation will be accepted at (301) 594-3212. All responsible sources may submit a proposal which will be considered by this office. (0131)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0083 19960513\R-0007.SOL)