Bidders’ Conference

Convened by

Dirigo Health Agency

June 18, 2012

Solicitation to Select Designated Survey Vendors

Agenda

Purpose of Bidders’ Conference

Goals of the initiative

Expectations of the solicitation

Subsidy payments

Timelines

Q & A

Purpose of Bidders Conference

Provide overview of the project’s goalReview expectations of the solicitationClarify issues

NOTE: Presentation not exhaustive of all requirements identified in RFP

and its AppendicesAnswers to questions raised at the Bidders’ Conference are not

binding. Bidders should submit all questions in writing following the conference. Final responses to written comments will be posted on the Dirigo Health Agency project website on June 27, 2012

Goals of the Initiative

Promote patient experience as a vital component of care quality

Expand the number of primary and specialty care practice sites collecting patient experience data

Apply a consistent tool and approach for assessing patient experience

Compare survey results to regional and national benchmarks

Publicly report findings at the practice site level for use by consumers

Enhance the use of patient experience survey data by practice sites to improve quality

Why Designate Survey Vendors?

Maximize consistency in survey administration

Ease participation by practice sites

Serve as a vehicle for awarding practice-site subsidies

Eligibility to Submit Bids

Minimum requirement Experience using CAHPS protocol for sampling and

administering a CAHPS survey instrument

Preference NCQA-certified vendor, or Certified by CMS for administration of the H-CAHPS survey or

Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug Plan CAHPS surveys

Review Project Features

Target populationPractice siteSurvey instrumentsModes of administrationSample frame and sizePractice-site subsidyRegistrationField Period

Target Population

Adult patients (18 and older) of primary care and specialty care practice sites

Parents of children (<18) who are patients of pediatric practice sites only

Practice-Site

Practice site is the unit of analysis

Practice site is defined as the place where one or more clinicians practice together and provide primary or specialty care at a single geographic location, whether single geographic address or separate office suites at the same address.

Survey Instruments

Adult Primary Care Practice Sites

CG-CAHPS Adult PCMH, version 2.0

Child Pediatric Practice Sites [Note correction]

CG-CAHPS Child PCMH, version 2.0

Adult Specialist Practice Sites

CG-CAHPS Adult PCMH, version 2.0. This version is modified and includes all CG-CAHPS core

items and a subset of supplemental items.

Modes of Administration

Mail only

Telephone only

Mixed mode of mail with telephone follow-up

Mixed mode of e-mail with mail follow-up

Mixed mode of e-mail with telephone follow-up

Practice Recruitment

Participation in the survey is voluntary

Survey vendors will be responsible for contacting and enlisting practice site participation

DHA will conduct outreach activities to promote the survey effort among physicians and practice groups

There also will be limited public promotion to increase awareness of the survey effort in general

Sample Frame

Sample drawn at single point in time at practice site level

Patients who had at least one visit with a provider at the practice site in the 12 months prior to sample selection.

“Provider” includes physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant who independently manages a patient caseload.

Sample Size

# Providers at Practice Site*

# of Completed Surveys Required**

1 50

2 100

3 150

4-9 175

10-13 200

14-20 250

20+ 300

*Provider means physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant who independently manages a patient caseload

** Based on Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality guidelines for practice site sampling.

Practice-Site Subsidy

Available to all participating practice sites that: Use a Designated Vendor Follow DHA Survey Guidelines Submit a signed DUA with CAHPS allowing Dirigo Health access to

survey results for public reporting

Flat subsidy amount per completed survey

Amount of subsidy based on preferred rate established thru RFP solicitation

Subsidy level expected to be 60-90% of preferred rate Subsidy paid to the vendor in 2-3 installments Vendor balance bills practice after receipt of subsidy

Registration

Vendors must register practice sites in advance of survey administration

Registration requirements Signed Data Use Agreement Name of participating practice site, number of providers by

practice site

Data obtained through registration is used to determine initial practice site subsidy payments to vendor

Field Period

Survey administration will occur over a three-month period (September 2012 – November 2012)

Data Submission

CAHPS Online Reporting System

Maine’s Use of CAHPS Database

Data Use Agreements

Data Submission

CAHPS On-Line Reporting System

National repository of data for selected CAHPS surveys

Two major applications BenchmarkingBenchmarking to evaluate health system performance and

support quality improvement ResearchResearch on consumer assessments of quality

Funded by AHRQ and administered by Westat through the CAHPS User Network

Maine’s Use of CAHPS Database

DHA plans to use the CAHPS Database to analyze and aggregate comparative site-level results and national benchmarks for state-level reporting.

Benefits – Minimizes costs of analyzing and aggregating survey data

Streamlines data submission and encourages practices to submit their data to CAHPS Database to view their own practice data for benchmarking.

Composite measures available through CAHPS database for public reporting.

Maine’s Use of CAHPS Database

Practice sites will include DHA as a data user in the required data use agreement (DUA) with CAHPS Database.

Vendors will submit survey results to the CAHPS Database following submission guidelines.

DHA will access results from CAHPS Database to publicly report practice-level findings.

How it will work Signed agreement between practice sites and CAHPS must authorize DHA to have access to site

level information for statewide public reporting.

Vendors responsible for ensuring DUAs are signed and submitted to CAHPS and DHA to establish subsidy eligibility. Vendors must provide DUA documentation in DHA practice registration system to receive estimated initial subsidy payments.

Vendors will submit survey results through the CAHPS PCMH Clinician & Group Survey Data Submission process following CAHPS guidelines and recommendations.

Final subsidy payments made to vendors based on CAHPS Database confirmation of surveys submitted.

Public Reporting

Practice sites must agree to have practice site level survey results publicly reported as a condition of receiving a subsidy.

Practice site level survey data will be publicly reported on the DHA website.

Design of public reporting website will be developed with input from stakeholders.

Proposal Contents

Section 1 - Organizational Qualifications and Experience Applicant entity Sub-contractors Experience of senior staff responsible for work Methods for assuring compliance with terms of RFP Evidence that qualifying criteria are met Experience with similar survey projects, especially CAHPS

and PCMH, with emphasis on experience in Maine Experience using CAHPS Database Historical response rate by mode

Proposal Contents

Section 2 – Specifications of Work to be Performed Strategy for practice-site recruitment Opt in/out for new business Sampling method Mode(s) of survey administration Method for obtaining Data Use Agreement Adherence to CAHPS Survey Administration guidelines Understanding of Data Submission requirements Post survey validation

Proposal Contents

Section III – Cost Proposal

Calculated as cost per completed survey

Separate bid for each mode that Vendor plans to use

Identify break breaks based on level of participation

Proposal Contents

Section IV – Economic impact within Maine Activities that have direct and positive impact on Maine

Employment of Maine residents Subcontracting/partnering with Maine businesses

Payment of Maine taxes or licensing fees

Proposal Contents

Section V – Required Proposal AttachmentsEvidence of NCQA-Certification or CMS Training (if

applicable)Resume of person(s) responsible for project

oversightMarketing materials

Scoring

Organization qualifications & experience (30 points)

Approach to work (40 points)

Cost proposal (25 points)

Economic impact within Maine (5 points)

Timeline

Activity Due Date

Receipt of written questions June 22, 2012

Responses posted June 27, 2012

Receipt of proposals July 6, 2012

Estimated start of contract August 6, 2012

Estimated contract end date April 30, 2013

Questions??

Responses to questions addressed during the Bidders’ Conference are not binding. Bidders are advised to submit their questions in writing by 5:00 pm on June 22. Final responses to written comments will be posted on the Dirigo Health Agency project website on June 27, 2012.

http://www.dirigohealth.maine.gov/Pages/patient_experience_matters.htm l