REQUEST FOR INFROMATION October 5, 2015 DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Program Contracting Office (PCO) East - Washington DC 1100 First Street, NE Suite 735A Washington, DC 20002 BACKGROUND The Department of Veteran Affairs, ("VA") Veterans Health Administration ("VHA"), is conducting this Request for Information (RFI) as market research to determine sources and to seek and understand the availability of Medical Walk-in Clinics that could provide basic services to Veterans for situations when access to a VA medical facility is not possible or practical (e.g., after hours, weekends/holidays, when a Veteran is traveling, etc.). The VHA continues to meet Veterans' changing medical, surgical and quality-of-life needs. New programs provide treatment for traumatic brain injuries, post-traumatic stress, suicide prevention, women Veterans and more. VA has opened outpatient clinics, and established telemedicine and other services to accommodate a diverse Veteran population, and continues to cultivate ongoing medical research and innovation to improve the lives of America's patriots. VHA operates one of the largest health care systems in the world and provides training for a majority of America's medical, nursing and allied health professionals. Roughly 60 percent of all medical residents obtain a portion of their training at VA hospitals; and VA medical research programs benefit society at-large. The VA health care system has grown from 54 hospitals in 1930, to include 152 hospitals, 800 community-based outpatient clinics, 126 nursing home care units and 35 domiciliaries. The information gained from this RFI may be fundamental to shaping the Department's future efforts to improve access to services. B. REQUIREMENTS It is VHA's intent to obtain information and open dialog with Subject Matter Experts with adequate facilities capable of providing basic medical services to Veterans for situations when access to a VA medical facility is not possible or practical (e.g., after hours, weekends/holidays, when a Veteran is traveling, etc.). The following conditional are mandatory requirements that all facilities providing care to Veterans must meet: " Facilities must accept Medicare rates " Facilities must meet all Medicare Conditions of Participation and Conditions for Coverage as required by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services o See the Conditions for Coverage and Conditions of Participation page for further detail (http://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Legislation/CFCsAndCoPs/index.html " Any facility or individual on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) exclusionary list shall be prohibited from network participation. o See the Office of Inspector General Exclusions page for further detail (http://oig.hhs.gov/exclusions/index.asp) " All services, facilities, and providers shall be in compliance with all applicable federal and state regulatory requirements. " All facilities shall have a full, current and unrestricted license in the state where the service(s) are delivered and must have same or similar credentials as required by VA C. OBJECTIVES VHA is in the process of gathering information on the current marketplace and seeking to learn from Industry experts on the availability of Medical Walk-in Clinics that could provide basic services to Veterans for situations when access to a VA medical facility is not possible or practical (e.g., after hours, weekends/holidays, when a Veteran is traveling, etc.). VHA will use this information to gain a better understanding of industry's ability to support a core set of VA beneficiary needs. VHA seeks to satisfy the following objectives: o Obtain a brief summary of capabilities in delivering a medical services on a walk-in basis to Veterans (after hours, weekends/holidays, when a Veteran is traveling, etc.) o Obtain written responses to the RFI questions listed in Section D. All questions, comments, and clarifications shall be submitted to the response Points of Contact by the response due date. D. RFI QUESTIONS 1. Describe your organization's capacity to provide Medical Walk-In Clinic Services. o How many such clinics do you operate? o Where are each of the clinics located (City and State)? o What are the general hours of service for your clinics (hours per day, opening and closing hours, days per week, holiday hours)? o What is the average clinic capacity per day (on a per patient basis)? o Please proved the low and high capacity ranges o What is the average waiting time for a Walk-In Clinic patient to be seen? o What type(s) of medical professionals provide services in your clinics (e.g., physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, etc.) o Describe any plans to expand the number of Medical Walk-in Clinics (numbers of new clinics, locations and timeline). 2. Describe how you assess the quality of the services provided. o Do your Walk-in Clinical staff have collaborative practice arrangements with nearby institutions/providers? o Are your clinics accredited and if so, by which accrediting body? o Do you use protocols to guide treatment decisions? o What are your customer service ratings? 3. What types of Walk-in Clinic Services do you offer? o Uncomplicated illness? o Complicated illness? o Laboratory Services (point of care and standard lab services)? o Imaging? o Weight loss? o Immunizations? o Physicals? " Other? 4. Please provide cost and billing information. o What is the average cost per clinic visit? o Do you bill private insurance for a clinic visit? " Do you have the ability to collect patient co-payments? 5. Describe how you review Clinic staff credentials " Do you source verify state licensure, education, etc.? 6. Please describe your company's capacity for Electronic Medical Records interoperability. 7. Please describe any work your company currently performs that is specific to the Veteran community. 8. Please describe how your Walk-in Medical clinics coordinate care with patients' other providers? o How is medication reconciliation accomplished? SMALL BUSINESS UTILIZATION Is your company a small business or other socioeconomic concern (Small Disadvantaged Business, 8(a), Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business, Woman-Owned Small Business, or HUBZone)? If your company is not a small business or other socioeconomic concern, what is your company's plan to include small business participation? E. RESPONSES Responses to this RFI shall address all items listed in the Objective C and RFI questions D. The responses shall not exceed 5 pages (Page count does not include the Requirements Validation document as stated in Section B or the Capabilities statement). Each page must be numbered and labeled with the company's name. Responses shall be e-mailed as either a PDF or MS Word attachment and must include a cover letter on institution letterhead including the institution name, point of contact, address, phone number, fax number, NAICS, DUNS number, and CAGE code. VA - PCO - East requests a response by 5:00 PM EDT on Wednesday, October, 14, 2015. All initial correspondence shall be via email. If needed, VA may establish a dialog with vendors who respond to gain a better understanding of their potential solutions. The Government intends to hold an industry day October 27, 2015, in Washington, DC from 9:00 - 3:00. However, vendors that do not respond to this RFI will not be allowed to participate in the industry day. The industry day announcement information is under a separate notice. Please e-mail responses by the date shown above to
[email protected]. It is noted that comments, questions, and the Government's answers will be posted to FedBizOpps. Accordingly, information will NOT be treated as proprietary, unless specifically stated otherwise. F. DISCLAIMER In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a solicitation. Neither unsolicited proposals nor any other kind of offers will be considered in response to this RFI. Responses to this notice are not offers and will not be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. The Government shall not be liable for or suffer any consequential damages for any proprietary information not properly identified. Propriety information will be safeguarded in accordance with applicable Government Regulations. Proprietary information or trade secrets should be clearly identified. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. All information received in response to this RFI that is marked Proprietary will be handled accordingly. Responses to the RFI will not be returned. At this time, questions concerning the composition and requirements for future RFPs will not be entertained.