MODIFICATION
R -- Patient Safety Organization Privacy Protection Center
- Notice Date
- 3/14/2007
- Notice Type
- Modification
- NAICS
- 541990
— All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Contracts Management, 540 Gaither Road, Rockville, MD, 20850, UNITED STATES
- ZIP Code
- 00000
- Solicitation Number
- AHRQ-07-10032
- Response Due
- 3/27/2007
- Archive Date
- 4/11/2007
- Description
- This modification changes the due date for receipt of capability statements to March 27, 2007. No other changes have been made to this synopsis. Market Survey/Sources Sought ? Patient Safety Organization Privacy Protection Center In response to the 2005 Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is conducting a market survey to seek potential small business sources (including 8(a), small disadvantaged, HUBZone, veteran-owned small business and service disabled veteran-owned small business) to evaluate the establishment of a Patient Safety Organization Privacy Protection Center to conduct technical assistance and patient safety event data de-identification services for certified Patient Safety Organizations. AHRQ is seeking potential sources from qualified small business firms under NAICS Code 541990 (size standard - $6.5 million) which can demonstrate the capability to create, operate, maintain, and enhance a Patient Safety Organization Privacy Protection Center. The Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act established a framework through which hospitals, doctors, and other health care providers can work to improve health care quality in a protected legal environment. The act extends legal privilege and confidentiality to health care providers voluntarily reporting patient safety events and ?close calls? to patient safety organizations (PSO) which will be certified by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. In turn, PSOs collect and analyze patient safety data to develop and help providers implement patient safety improvement strategies in a protected legal environment. Additionally, the act authorizes the Secretary to ?facilitate the creation of and maintain a network of patient safety databases that provides an interactive evidence-based management resource.? This network shall ?accept, aggregate across the network, and analyze non-identifiable patient safety work product voluntarily reported by patient safety organizations.? The Act also allows the Secretary to specify common formats for the reporting of patient safety information to the network and to provide technical assistance to PSOs. To facilitate the efficient and effective operation of PSOs and minimize the reporting burden of PSOs contributing data to the Network of Patient Safety Databases, AHRQ proposes to create and support a PSO Privacy Protection Center. This center will offer technical assistance to PSOs, receive patient safety event information from PSOs, and render this information non-identifiable. The PSO Privacy Protection Center will then transfer de-identified information to the Network of Patient Safety Databases. The anticipated relationships between the PSOs, the PSO Privacy Protection Center, the Network of Patient Safety Databases, AHRQ and other potential users of information from the Network are illustrated in Figure 1. This market survey is for the PSO Privacy Protection Center. A separate market survey will be issued for the Network of Patient Safety Databases. Specific work in this project will include establishing the PSO Privacy Protection Center, receiving information on patient safety events from PSOs who participate, rendering this information non-identifiable, transferring non-identifiable information of patient safety events to the Network of Patient Safety Database, and providing technical assistance to PSOs to support patient safety activities. Related tasks include convening experts as needed to guide PSO Privacy Protection Center activities and functions, and conducting an annual meeting of PSOs. Of utmost importance will be to protect the security and confidentiality of any patient safety event information. The Contractor will be required to develop procedures and mechanisms that shall adhere to all Federal, DHHS and AHRQ IT security and confidentiality regulations. Potential sources must demonstrate in their response to this market survey their knowledge and expertise with all applicable confidentiality and security procedures (including the Privacy Act of 1974, Public Health Service Act, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act and other applicable AHRQ and DHHS regulations). The Contractor will need to retain at least one staff member who has a demonstrated understanding of the HIPAA and Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act privacy rules and confidentiality protections. The Contractor will be required to develop a PSO Privacy Protection Center Security Plan and conduct regular security audits. The Contractor will be required to use an Earned Value Management System (EVMS) in the management of this contract that is consistent with ANSI/EIA-STD-748 guidelines. Potential sources must demonstrate in their response to this market survey their past experience with EVMS management. It is anticipated that the process of rendering patient safety information non-identifiable will entail considerable planning and work. Information will need to be processed such that no individual patient, provider, or report can be identified. This process will need to go beyond simple removal of unique patient, provider, and reporter identifiers and consider unique combinations of information that might inadvertently identify a patient, provider, or reporter. Sources responding to this market survey must demonstrate in their response their expertise and experience in data de-identification. The Contractor will be required to establish and maintain an expert panel to advise and provide feedback on the activities of the PSO Privacy Protection Center. The panel will include both individuals with expertise in the delivery of technical assistance related to patient safety and individuals with expertise processing patient safety event information. The Contractor will hold and provide support for the expert panel meetings. Another important aspect to contribute to the success of this project depends on the willingness of PSOs to supply information/data on a voluntary basis. A main function of the PSA Privacy Protection Center is to aid PSOs to minimize the burden on PSOs in supplying information to the PSO Privacy Protection Center and the recruitment of PSOs to supply data. This will involve the development of a recruitment and incentive plan for PSOs. The Contractor will create and maintain policies and procedures for partner PSO information resources and submission materials. The Contractor will contact and actively recruit PSOs as partners and will execute partner agreements. The Contractor will form PSO partner workgroups and manage and host a partner PSO listserv. The Contractor will be a central resource to provide technical assistance to PSOs. Potential sources must demonstrate their experience and expertise in this type of activity. Potential respondents to this market survey should note that the separation of the functions of the Privacy Protection Center and of the Network is intentional; the Privacy Protection Center will work with information supplied directly by PSOs while the Network will only handle standardized information that has been rendered non-identifiable. Hence, an organization can receive the contract for only one entity, the Privacy Protection Center or the Network, but not both. Sources must demonstrate in their response to this market survey their expertise and experience and describe personnel with relevant education and demonstrated experience in areas such as: ? Knowledge of the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act and activities of PSOs ? Knowledge of current patient safety tools, resources, organizational leaders and subject matter experts ? Knowledge of legal policies and procedures related to use of protected health information (PHI- HIPAA, etc) ? Skills in the development, implementation, and use of clinical data, especially patient safety reporting system data, to improve quality of care ? Skills in processing and managing large clinical databases in a secure environment ? Skills in managing and working with patient safety experts ? Ability to create knowledge based tools to be used in the patient safety and health care quality environment ? Ability to organize and conduct both large meetings and smaller topic specific workgroups and seminars In addition, Sources must demonstrate expertise in developing and managing complex content-driven projects under tight timelines. A Project Management Institute (PMI)-certified or PMI-certification-eligible Project Manager is required as well as a demonstrated ability to provide Earned Value Management (EVM) information. Interested small businesses should submit their capability statements (no more than 10 pages in length) to: Sharon Williams, Contracting Officer, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Division of Contracts Management, 540 Gaither Road, Rockville MD, 20850 E-mail: Sharon.williams@ahrq.hhs.gov Capability statements must be received no later than March 15, 2007, by 4:00 p.m. Capability statements should address the specific requirements of this notice and identify the source's capabilities to complete this requirement, including, but not limited to information on key staff experience and education, and a description of corporate experience with similar projects. Capability statements should be submitted in an original and 2 copies or electronically. Electronic submissions should be submitted before noon to allow for processing.
- Record
- SN01250624-W 20070316/070314220444 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
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