Inactive

Sources Sought Notice Number: IHS-SS-23-1473660 This Sources Sought Notice is for informational and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation, an obligation or commitment by ... Sources Sought Notice Number: IHS-SS-23-1473660 This Sources Sought Notice is for informational and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation, an obligation or commitment by the Indian Health Service. This notice is intended strictly for market research to determine the availability of Indian Small Businesses Economic Enterprise (ISBEE), Indian Economic Enterprises (IEE), or Other Small Businesses. Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. The anticipated applicable NAICS code for this acquisition is 513210, Software Publishers- however other relevant NAICS codes will be considered where applicable. 1. Background/Purpose Objectives: The Indian Health Service (IHS), an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services, is responsible for providing federal health services to American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN). The mission of IHS is to raise the physical, mental, social, and spiritual health of AI/AN to the highest level and assure that comprehensive, culturally acceptable personal and public health services are available and accessible to members of the 574 federally recognized Tribes across the United States. Improving and maintaining standardization of the credentialing and privileging process of licensed independent practitioners (LIPs) and non-LIP professionals is a priority for IHS as part of broader agency quality improvement activities. IHS finalized the Quality Framework and Implementation Action Plan in November 2016 that outlines the agency plan to develop, implement, and sustain a quality program intended to improve the patient experience and ensure the delivery of reliably high quality health care. In addition, IHS provided a statement of planned actions in response to findings in a recent Government Accountability Office study published in January 2017 (Actions Needed to Improve Oversight of Quality of Care- GAO 17-181) related to automating and standardizing the credentialing process in IHS across the organization. IHS seeks to utilize electronic processes in all IHS Areas to support secured sharing of credentialing and privileging information, enhancing and improving the collection, maintenance, and verification of credentialing-related data and transition to a single enterprise COTS software application throughout the agency. To transition from multiple business processes performed in different IHS Areas to a standardized and streamlined organization-wide business process; IHS awarded a contract to the Applied Statistics & Management Inc. (ASM) solution MD-Staff, currently being operated within the IHS network environment. Through the use of MD-Staff, IHS has consolidated its credentialing processes through the expected completion of the contract with ASM in 2022. In Calendar Year (CY) 2021, approximately 2,000 new LIPs applications (federal and contractors, including but not limited to doctors, nurses and pharmacists) were processed across ten IHS Areas. IHS currently has over 4,000 active provider files across 10 Areas. In a recent independent review of the current credentialing business processes, the estimated Time to Credential (Tc) varied based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to: the volume of workload for each Area, staff available to conduct credentialing functions, whether or not the Area was using a paper-based or COTS solution, timely submission of complete applications, use of a centralized verification organization, the time taken to receive peer recommendations, affiliations and medical malpractice history verifications, and whether the practitioner would be providing services via a telehealth modality. The average Tc ranged between 14-34 workdays. Please see attached document IHS-SS-23-1473660.pdf for full description/details on the full capabilies sought under this notice.