SOURCES SOUGHT
R -- Commercial Practices for Accounts Receivable
- Notice Date
- 1/17/2002
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- Contracting Office
- Attn: Department of Veterans Affairs, Acquisition Operations and Analysis Service, (049A3), 810 Vermont Avenue, N.W., Washington, District Of Columbia 20420
- ZIP Code
- 20420
- Solicitation Number
- 101-02-02
- Response Due
- 2/6/2002
- Point of Contact
- Contracting Officer - Marcia Rodrigues, Contract Specialist, (202) 273-8750
- E-Mail Address
-
Email your questions to Marcia Rodrigues
(marcia.rodrigues@mail.va.gov)
- Description
- Veterans Health Administration CFO Revenue Office Market Research ? Commercial Practices for Accounts Receivable Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Veterans Health Administration?s (VHA) Revenue Office is seeking information from industry on the commercial practices employed by industry for accounts receivable. Such information as what methods they use to collect and how to structure payment schedule. This information will be used to assist in development of an Request for Proposal. Below VA has provided information regarding the purpose, scope, and background of the project; and final some specific questions that we would like industry to respond to regarding commercial practices for accounts receivable. Purpose The purpose of the project is to maximize collection of third party claims for health care services provided veterans. Scope This project includes all VA Medical Centers and their affiliated clinics. Background: In 1986, VA received authorization to seek reimbursement from veterans and private health insurers for a portion of the costs incurred to provide health care for non-service connected disabilities. Initially, charges were based on the average VHA costs for all care provided. In 1997, a fundamental shift in VHA?s billing practices occurred as VA received authority to bill reasonable charges for the provision of the non-service connected health care services. The charges, implemented in September 1999, are representative of the amounts charged by non-VHA providers and specific to the market area of each VHA facility. Reasonable charges are used to calculate inpatient facility charges, outpatient facility charges, clinician charges for inpatient and outpatient care, and skilled nursing facility/sub-acute inpatient facility charges. In FY 2000, VHA treated more than 3.4 million veterans providing 40 million outpatient visits and treating over 700,000 inpatients. These services produced approximately 3.9 million third party claims and 11.8 million patient statements, which generated over $580 million in collections: 3% of the nearly $20 billion appropriated for VA health care in FY 2000. VHA produces third-party claims for 16% of patients treated. It is important to note that not all of the 3.4 million veterans treated have billable health insurance. Many veterans are covered under Medicare, which is not billable by VA. Other veterans are treated only for service-connected conditions: services that are exempt by law from being billed. The implementation of reasonable charges has had a significant impact on VHA. In comparing the first eight months of FY 1999 and the first eight months of FY 2001, we see that the total amount billed has increased by 42% -- from $1.1 billion to $1.6 billion -- while the number of patients treated remained relatively constant. During the same time period, VHA collections increased by 34%, from $375 million to $504 million. For FY 2001, collections are projected to exceed $700 million. Public Laws (PL) 99-272, 101-508 and 102-579 granted VA the authority to recover the reasonable cost of medical care from third-party health insurers for services furnished to a veteran for treatment of a non-service connected condition. CFO Revenue Office establishes about $2.4 billion in receivables a year, and collects about $787 million. The overall collection ratio, at less than 40% requires action at multiple levels. This project will address the third party collection issue; resolution of delinquent claims. Each year there are over 25,000 such claims amounting to over $175,000,000.00 over a five-year period. In addition, there is an existing backlog of such claims at the Medical Centers that may increase this number. VA would continue the process for initial billing and follow-up. After a pre-determined time frame, accounts still outstanding would be turned over to a contractor for follow-up. The contractor would be provided the veteran claim data containing the pertinent information, such as referring medical center identification, patient information social security number, dates of service, original billing date and amount, UB-92 information, current status of account and balance due. Questions: Please respond in writing to the following questions: Background information: Name of firm Address, phone number and point of contact Size of the firm (both number of employees and receipts) Brief description of relevant experience in this field Questions ?What are commercial recovery practices- briefly explain the collection process ?What methods are used to collect ?What is the commercial practice as it relates to the structure for reimbursement (flat fee per claim, percentage of collections, etc.) ?Should incentive-structure of payment be established where larger payment made to contractor for those claims paid in a shorter time ?How would automation within recovery practice interface with VA?s proprietary computer system (VistA). ?Using commercial practices, identify at what age should claims be referred for maximum success ?What flexibility should be built into solution ?How would security of data be maintained
- Web Link
-
RFI 101-02-02
(http://www.bos.oamm.va.gov/solicitation?number=101-02-02)
- Record
- SN20020119/00015619-020118090307 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
(will not be valid after Archive Date)
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