Sources Sought Notice – Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) – Medical Provider Component

Notice Type: Sources Sought Notice

Posted Date: 11-MAY-16

Office Address: Department of Health and Human Services; Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; Contracts Management; 540 Gaither Road Rockville MD 20850

Subject: Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) - Medical Provider Component

Classification Code: R - Professional, administrative, and management support services

Solicitation Number: AHRQ-17-10001

Contact: Tara W. Bertolini, Contract Specialist, Phone 3014271705, Fax 30142171740, Email [email protected]

Description: Department of Health and Human Services

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Contracts Management

Medical Expenditure Panel Survey - Medical Provider Component This is a Small Business Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations.

The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding: (1) the availability and capability of qualified small business sources; (2) whether they are small businesses; HUBZone small businesses; service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses; 8(a) small businesses; veteran-owned small businesses; woman-owned small businesses; or small disadvantaged businesses; and (3) their size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition. Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. An organization that is not considered a small business under the applicable NAICS code should not submit a response to this notice."

A. Background

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) was created in 1989 "to enhance the quality, appropriateness and effectiveness of health care services and access to such services, through the establishment of a broad base of scientific research and through the promotion of improvements in clinical practice (including the prevention of diseases and other health conditions and in the organization, financing and delivery of health care services)." In 1999, Congress, in its reauthorization language, stated that the Director of the AHRQ "shall conduct and support research and build private-public partnerships to (1) identify the causes of preventable health care errors and patient injury in health care delivery; (2) develop, demonstrate, and evaluate strategies for reducing errors and improving patient safety; and (3) disseminate such effective strategies throughout the health care industry."

The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) Household Component (HC), Medical Provider Component (MPC), and Insurance Component (IC), which began in 1996, is a set of large-scale surveys of families and individuals (MEPS-HC), their medical providers (doctors, hospitals, pharmacies, etc.) (MEPS-MPC), and employers across the United States (MEPS-IC). MEPS collects data on the specific health services that Americans use, how frequently they use them, the cost of these services, and how they are paid for, as well as data on the cost, scope, and breadth of health insurance held by and available to U.S. workers. For further discussion of the MEPS family of surveys as well as historical context please see: http://www.meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/about_meps/survey_back.jsp

B. Purpose and Objectives

The primary objective of the MPC is to collect data from medical providers (hospitals, physicians, home care agencies, pharmacies, and long term health care facilities) on expenditures for medical services provided to MEPS Household Component (HC) sample persons. Such data are essential to improve the accuracy of the national medical expenditure estimates derived from the MEPS HC, since household respondents are not always the most reliable source of information on medical expenditures. The data also serve as the primary imputation source of medical expenditure data to correct for the item nonresponse on this measure by the MEPS household sample participants. MPC data also serve as an imputation source for item nonresponse to reduce the level of bias in survey estimates of medical expenditures. They also serve as source of expenditure information on physician charges that are associated with hospital care but not billed by the hospital, as well as serving the primary source of expenditure information for Medicaid recipients. C. Project Requirements

Providers for the MPC sample for one year includes all hospitals, emergency rooms, home care agencies, outpatient departments, pharmacies, and long term health care facilities reported by HC respondents, as well as all physicians who provide services for patients in hospitals but bill separately from the hospital (these physicians are identified by the hospitals not the HC respondents). HMOs are included in the MPC data collection. Office based medical providers where the provider is either a doctor of medicine (MD) or Osteopathy (DO) or practices under the direct supervision of an MD or DO are included in the MPC as well. Data collection consists of contacting and collecting data from approximately 5,500 hospitals, 13,000 office-based providers, 600 home care providers, and 100 institutions, 20,000 physicians who provide services for patients in hospitals but bill separately from the hospital, and 8,000 pharmacies. Data collection methods may include phone, fax, mail, self-administration, and electronic transmission (including CD-ROMS and secure transmission via FTP and email). Each year of the MPC, all providers shall be screened to ascertain their eligibility, their association with the MEPS household respondent, and to obtain information to facilitate the conduct of the core MPC interview. Currently, an Integrated Data Collection System (IDCS) that includes a Web component in which the MEPS-MPC forms are programmed for computer-assisted data entry (CADE) and a case management system (CMS) is used for data collection. Recruiting, training and managing a data collection staff that includes staff with phone data collection skills and staff with the ability to abstract data from financial and medical records is expected. The sample of the MEPS MPC is designed to provide data on events for which household respondents are less likely to be fully aware of the financial transactions regarding the medical care received, to enrich the sample of events available as donors for imputation, and to provide a basis for methodological analysis of household reported payments for all types of events. The contractor shall also develop specifications for matching data collected in the Medical Provider Component with complementary data collected in the Household Component. The Contractor shall organize the data collected in the MPC into data files usable with the SAS statistical software package with documentation. The contractor shall produce and deliver internal MPC files that include matched and unmatched data and produce matched files in the prescribed format and necessary matching variables and documentation. Appropriate security measures must be demonstrated with regards to maintaining the confidential protection of data collected.

The contractor shall perform the following types of services under this contract:

* Survey/project management

o Continue operation of MEPS MPC o Preparation of MEPS MPC documentation o Liaison and cooperation with MEPS principals o Cooperation and liaison with the HC contractor assuring timely, accurate and complete file transfers so the HC contractor can complete editing/imputation work (for all files but prescribed medicines) and public use file development for all MEPS event files on schedule o Cooperation with AHRQ to obtain clearances o Meeting arrangements o Project closeout/transfer of operations o Reporting, work planning, management meetings

* Data Collection

o Receiving and receipting permission forms that establishes the sample for the MPC o Implementing and documenting sample o Maintaining MPC provider directory including SBDs and pharmacies o Unduplicating the sample o Identifying hospital physicians o Producing data collection forms, advance letters, and other respondent and supporting materials o Recruiting, training, and managing data collection specialists and abstractors o Collecting data from medical and billing offices of providers o Abstracting data from billing and medical records o Coding of ICD-10-CM, verbatim medical conditions, CPT-4, verbatim medical procedures and supplies, prescribed medicines, and providers including hospital physicians that bill separately o Identify duplicate events and remove from data file

* Data Processing

o Providing data security o Forms control and receipt o Data entry o Recruiting and conducting training program for coders, verifiers and supervisors o Recruiting and conducting training program for abstractors, verifiers and supervisors o Data matching for all MPC provider types except prescribed medicines o Producing matched files for use in the production of edited/imputed analytic files o Producing input files for direct feed into the expenditure editing and imputation programs o Benchmarking to outside data sources and previous years MEPS estimates several times throughout data collection o Run edit checks throughout the field period and correct data as needed o Developing MPC internal files (include matched and unmatched data) including a prescribed medicines file o Quality control including interim checks on data quality throughout the field period

Further discussion and detail pertaining to the MEPS-MPC may be found at: http://meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/survey_comp/mpc.jsp

D. Anticipated period of performance

The anticipated period of performance: 5 Years from Award date

E. Other important considerations N/A

F. Capability statement / information sought

Organizations who are interested in presenting their capabilities and experience regarding this potential requirement should send a statement describing: (a) staff expertise, including their availability, experience, and formal and other training; (b) current in-house capability and capacity to perform the work; (c) prior completed projects of similar nature; (d) corporate experience and management capability; and (e) examples of prior completed Government contracts, references, and other related information. Contractors must describe both their capabilities for performing the work as well as their experience working in all the areas and with all the professionals described above. Contractors should include technical and administrative points of contact, including names, titles, addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses. Also, DUNS number and type of business (HUBZONE, 8(a), etc.) should be included.

Information may be sent electronically or by mail but should not exceed 10 pages (not including references) and must be received by AHRQ no later than 15 days from this notice.

This information should be sent electronically or by mail to:

Tara Bertolini Contract Specialist Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality 5600 Fishers Lane Rockville, MD 20857 [email protected] 301-427-1705 (voice) (301) 427-1740 (fax)

Disclaimer and Important Notes. This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provide in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization's qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation.

Confidentiality. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).

Link/URL: https://www.fbo.gov/spg/HHS/AHRQ/DCM/AHRQ-17-10001/listing.html