SUBJECT: Evidence-based clinical decision support system (CDS) DISCLAIMER: 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. 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 a future RFP will not be entertained. SUBJECT: The Department of Veterans Affairs is conducting market research in order to provide Evidence-based clinical decision support system (CDS). The government anticipates a awarding a one Firm Fixed Price contract that will provide the support services listed within the below attachment. OBJECTIVE: See attachment. RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS: Name and Address of Company Any small business designation as certified by the Small Business Administration A through description of experience in managing support requirements of this nature. CONTACT INFORMATION: Any questions related to this RFI shall be directed to Kami Hom at
[email protected] . All information regarding Capabilities Statements or any other proprietary information relative to this RFI shall be submitted via email to
[email protected] no later than 3:00 pm EST on 5/16/2018. ATTACHMENT 1 Statement of Work Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Health Administration Veteran Integrated System Network (VISN) 5 Point of Care Subscription A. General Information 1.0 Introduction: The Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA), Veteran Integrated System Network (VISN) 5, requires online access to a commercial, off-the-shelf, point of care (POC) clinical information subscription that will be made available throughout the DVA healthcare system. Access shall include Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits for the POC databases, remote access via OpenAthens accounts, and mobile platforms to include various popular hand-held devices, for all physicians and all other health care providers across VISN 5. These databases will serve to assist health care providers in their clinical decision making and drug information needs. 2.0 Background: VISN 5, which includes six main medical centers, affiliated Community Based Outpatient Clinics, and other physical work and off-site locations, requires online web access to searchable medical and drug references for retrieval of current, authoritative, and evidence-based medicine information for health care providers and patients. Electronic medical references reduce the need for multiple individual hard copies of expensive print resources and allow for cross searching multiple clinical information resources. This method provides a more efficient manner of retrieving medically necessary information to meet the clinical mission of providing the best quality care to Veterans within VISN 5. Health care providers need these online tools to be available on VA networked and non-VA networked computers, both onsite and offsite, as well as on mobile devices, to have health information available to provide care for patients. All VA Medical Centers have access to nationally purchased databases and resources that are made available through the VA Library Network Office (LNO). These databases include already subscribed content from: Clinical Key, OVID MD, the Access Suite from McGraw Hill, and many others. The POC database required in this statement of work are to complement these resources. These resources must provide patient health information that is printable and can be provided to Veteran patients, their family members and caregivers. This material should meet the VA acceptable standards of reading levels. Where ever possible graphics should be included. Patient information concerning prescription drugs should also be included. 3.0 Scope of Work: The contractor shall provide all resources necessary to meet the requirements described in this statement of work for an online, commercial, off-the-shelf, point of care (POC) clinical information resource subscription. The contractor shall ensure that the POC database includes Continuing Medical Education (CME) and should when possible include Continuing Education Unit (CEU) credits. The contractor shall provide 24/7 online web access to the POC subscription as stated herein for staff and trainees at facilities in VISN 5 (via IP), to their mobile devices (via Apps or mobile websites), or to their remote work areas (via IP or OpenAthens). 4.0 Performance Period: One (1) year from date of award, plus four (4) one (1) year option periods to be exercised at the discretion of the Government. 5.0 Required POC Clinical Information Subscription Requirements and Salient Characteristics: The contractor shall provide a POC clinical information subscription which addresses the following requirements and salient characteristics: Summaries and recommendations are provided, giving very specific and summarized statements that allow for ease of readability; User-friendly login and search engine; Efficiency, timeliness, and ease of navigation through search results; Comprehensive disease state information, management, diagnosis, and treatment; Summary of new or changing therapies; Links to full text articles; Tools to aid in information retrieval assessment (e.g. medical calculators, tables, graphics); Platform to easily record, track, and redeem CME credits and should when possible include CE credits with each topic review; Vendor-provided original patient information at a basic level (two levels of reading level is preferred); Sources are from vendor produced and updated information; Different types of treatment are clearly labeled within the table of contents; Content covers pathophysiology, diagnosis, prognosis, etiology, laboratory tests, and recommended treatment of medical conditions with grading of evidence, if appropriate; Provides content that is synthesized into clear and concise answers; Provides information about laboratory tests including normative values, contraindications and risks. Must include Continuing Medical Education (CME) and should when possible includes Continuing Education Unit (CEU): Users shall be able to track CME/CEU activity after establishing an account as provided by the contractor. All username/password and account maintenance shall be the responsibility of the contractor. Accreditation providers shall include, but not be limited to, a majority of the following: Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). American Medical Association (AMA). American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA). American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP). American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). American Osteopathic Association (AOA). American Midwifery Certification Board (AMCB). National Board of Certification and Recertification of Nurse Anesthetists (NBCRNA). Maintenance of Certification (MOC) included: Users shall be able to track MOC activity after establishing an account as provided by the contractor. All username/password and account maintenance shall be the responsibility of the contractor. Accreditation providers shall include a majority of the following: American Board of Internal Medicine. American Board of Medical Specialties MOC Directory. MOC Part II CME Activity included: Users shall be able to track MOC Part II CME activity after establishing an account as provided by the contractor. All username/password and account maintenance shall be the responsibility of the contractor. Accreditation providers shall include a majority of the following: American Board of Allergy and Immunology. American Board of Anesthesiology. American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery. American Board of Family Medicine. American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. American Board of Preventive Medicine. American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. American Board of Thoracic Surgery. American Board of Surgery. The contractor shall provide 24/7 license rights for immediate access to multiple simultaneous users from any web-enabled computer and mobile device. The database shall provide multiple simultaneous users, via one interface and one search platform, extensive evidence-based and peer-reviewed information on the following specialty areas including, but not limited to: Adult Emergency Medicine. Adult Primary Care and Internal Medicine. Allergy and Immunology. Anesthesiology. Cardiovascular Medicine. Dermatology. Endocrinology and Diabetes. Family Medicine and General Practice. Gastroenterology and Hepatology. General Surgery. Geriatrics. Hematology. Hospice and Palliative Care. Hospital Medicine. Infectious Diseases. Nephrology and Hypertension. Neurology. Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women s Health. Oncology. Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine. Psychiatry Content presentation and provision shall be appropriate for a large-scale teaching hospital s usage and relevant to its medical education curriculum. Content shall be appropriate to use in the development of an educational curriculum, not solely developed for the practicing physicians use.   Content shall be presented with/in a scholarly based approach. It shall be developed and presented with concise and expansive evidence-based information and not in a recipe book or short answer format. Content shall provide insight to an understanding of the clinical application of the diagnosis and treatment of specialty areas in medicine. Content must be in a narrative format suitable for health sciences students, residents, and fellows to educate themselves on point of care/clinical topics. An overall academic based approach is required in the presentation and content of the clinical information. Theory/Clinical Insights/Understanding methods are presented and included in the content provided. The POC information shall be written for a wide range of health professionals, but is targeted to internal medicine and related specialists. Designed to provide concise, practical answers (with recommendations with lists of evidence grades), the topics are written exclusively for clinicians in a minimum of 17 different medical specialties. Content is comprised of topic reviews written by recognized physician experts who address specific topics, synthesize research and make recommendations for treatment in their area of expertise. For content written by participating physicians, a wide range of medical journals are searched regularly along with the biomedical databases and hand-searching of the literature. Content shall be written and reviewed by expert physicians in their specialty and peer-reviewed by other experts in the specialty.  Credentials and affiliations of the authors and reviews shall be included in the content, and potential conflicts of interest clearly delineated. Authors or content experts for each section shall be recognizable as experts in that field. Components of the clinical topic review (diseases, conditions, symptoms, and other presentations) shall include the following information fields: Date of record/review update for each entry. Author(s)/editor(s) of record/review update for each entry. Author(s)/editor(s) credentials for each entry. Author(s)/editor(s) affiliation of record/review update for each entry. Specialty peer reviewer(s), credentials & affiliation of record/review update for each entry. General Information/Overview. Epidemiology/Incidence/Prevalence/Causes/Risk Factors. Pathophysiology. Diagnosis/Prognosis/Treatment/Laboratory Tests/Complications/Prevention/Screening. Information for patients written at various levels to meet the varying needs of patients. Hyperlinks to MEDLINE abstracts within the body of the record and in record/review references section. Graphics (figures, pictures, graphs, tables, etc.) integrated into record/review that can be printed or exported. References/Guidelines section with hyperlinks to MEDLINE abstracts. Hyperlinks to related record/review topics. Summary/Recommendations with grading. Ability and ease of remote connection. Updates of content at no additional cost. Static URL for access within DVA IP firewall and account login and password for access outside DVA IP firewall. Outside of IP firewall access, the contractor shall adhere to the OpenAthens time period for verification of (1) authorized user access; and, for (2) CME tracking. Currently, the OpenAthens accounts are established for a 2-year renewal cycle for permanent employees and a self-reported service expiration date for non-permanent employees, not to exceed 2 years. Justification for alternative time periods must be provided and acceptable to the LNO. The electronic reference must be easily accessible remotely by mobile devices and non-VA equipment for employees of the DVA. The contractor shall provide usage statistics on a monthly basis. The format of the usage statistics is provided either via email or contractor provided login username/password and shall include session count, search count, total document retrievals per title, top topics searched, method of access (onsite, remote, mobile), and a breakdown by IP/medical center is required. The contractor shall conduct online national webinars and provide online tutorials. Contractor shall also provide on-site training, briefings, and updates to facilities within the DVA Network as requested. If a plug-in, additional software or recommended software is required for optimal use, specific requirements must be included. Contractor shall address any questions or problems encountered when using this product with supported software or hardware. 6.0 Additional Customer Support Requirements: A single point of contact for customer service issues is named, available by both phone and email, and assigned to VISN 5 Contracting Representative or designee. At least one alternative contact is provided for absences of the provided single point of contact. A single point of contact shall be supplied for the POC resource, and shall follow all of the following terms: The single point of contact should be available via telephone and email during normal business hours and should not have excessive business travel or all day training commitments. Any scheduled out of office time must be notified to the VISN 5 Contracting Representative or designee with a minimum of two (2) week notice. Contractor shall provide technical support telephone numbers and email addresses. Customer service shall be available to troubleshoot website/connectivity issues via telephone and email. Issues unresolved more than two (2) business days shall be reported via email to VISN 5 Contracting Representative or designee. The VISN 5 Contracting Representative reserves the right to request and be provided a replacement to the single point of contact representative within 60 days after request. This request can be made for any reason or no reason at all, with no additional cost necessary or reason provided. The number of these requests is made at the discretion of the VISN 5 Contracting Representative. Contractor must explicitly state acceptance of this term/agreement in the contract provided by the DVA. The contractor will supply the resumes of the point of contacts, listing years and experience with the POC resource. The contractor s POCs shall provide monthly reports to the VISN 5 Contracting Representative or designee of technical service requests provided to VA customers. The contractor s POCs shall meet with the VISN 5 Contracting Representative or designee via conference call to review reports (date/time/frequency TBD). Each report shall provide at a minimum the following columns in Excel format with: Reference #. Date Created. First Assigned Technical Service Representative. Customer Full Name. Email Address of customer. Issue/Request Statement. Status. Result. Other information per Contractor choice. The contractor s POCs shall provide monthly usage reports to the VISN 5 Contracting Representative or designee by email. 7.0 Product relation to current LNO subscriptions. Should include: Links to Full Text Journals/Articles to the VA wide 153 separate Serials Solutions accounts (https://www.va.gov/LIBRARY/Find_Journals_and_Books.asp) that each medical center is provided by the VA Library Network Office (LNO). This access is for the full utilization of the 7,000 journal titles the LNO provides VA-wide (plus local journals subscriptions), and provides valuable interoperability to the clinical information the VA already possesses. COTS product also must integrate the National Library of Medicine PubMed s Linkout functionality. (https://www.va.gov/Library/Find_a_Database.asp#pubmed). COTS product links directly to the full scope of nearly all of the LNO s subscribed journal content and subscribed to databases, such as VisualDX, from within the product, which improves efficiency, enhances patient care, and minimizes disruptions to the essential clinical workflow. VisualDX is a commercial, web-based Point-of-Care Dermatology and Diagnostic Clinical Decision Support Software Product utilized nationwide throughout the VHA Healthcare System.