--Industry Day - Exploring the Feasibility of Contracting for Health Care Services on a Military Installation

Introduction The Department of Defense will sponsor an Industry Day to solicit information from industry on the structure of a pilot program to provide stand-alone contracted health care services on military installations. This announcement is not a formal solicitatio n or a request for proposals. Invitees include all interested and available health care vendors, including small businesses. The Government will use information gained during the Industry Day to assess the feasibility of undertaking a small number of pil ot operations in which the Department of Defense contracts for health care and health care management services on military installations. This initiative has two phases: a study and the implementation phase. The feasibility study will continue from now u ntil September 30, 2007. It may, depending upon the studys findings, be followed by contract solicitations at pilot sites. The Government does not anticipate awarding contracts to work on the feasibility study phase of the initiative. Background The Military Health System (MHS) is a large enterprise that provides operational medicine, training, research and Force Health Protection support across the full range of military operations. It also delivers health care for the systems 9.2 million eligi ble beneficiaries through TRICARE direct care and private sector managed care programs. The direct care programs are conducted, for the most part, in military treatment facilities (MTFs) on military installations. In fiscal year 2006 the budget for opera ting the MTFs was approximately 5.2 billion dollars. To remain a good steward of these taxpayer funds, DoD must continually seek ways to transform its MTF business and clinical operations to deliver health care more efficiently and effectively. The MHS t ransformation effort defined in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) Roadmap for Medical Transformation will enhance this process. Objective The objective of this QDR initiative is to assess the potential for DoD to contract for health care and health care management overhead on a military installation. By implementing pilot programs, the DoD will be able to determine whether it is more cost ef fective to have a government-owned, contractor-operated (GOCO) organization, using all of their own business systems, perform ambulatory care or ancillary services either within government facilities or in freestanding facilities on military installations. These contractor-operated entities may be able to operate with reduced management overhead (compared to a government-run organization) and would use private sector business practices. A pilot study could involve ambulatory care delivery or ancillary ser vices (e.g. pharmacy, lab, radiology, physical/occupational therapy) and would probably be under a GOCO use of a facility on an installation. Depending on the application, the contractor could either build and operate a new facility or operate from an exi sting government facility. Agenda In order to facilitate industry participation, the Government will provide a set of briefings during Industry Day that presents an overview of the MHS and MTF operations and outlines objectives, timelines and constraints for the initiative. The Government will then host a discussion to get industry input on the following areas: a) Provide feedback on current, successful Government initiatives of the same or similar nature. b) Where does industry see duplication and inefficiency in the current model that could potentially save money? c) What types of practices in commercial industry are best suited to implementation within the Department of Defense? d) What is the best way to measure the potential savings from a pilot project? e) What are the best incentives for the Government to use to reward excellent performance of a potential contractor in the pilot programs? f) What do you think is the best means of structuring payments and reimbursement under a potential contract? g) The Government will want to have a permanent record of any patient care recorded in its clinical information system, AHLTA. What recommendations do you have to enable efficient interface between contractor medical records systems and AHLTA? You will also have the opportunity to provide input in these areas before or after Industry Day, at the website MHSIndustryDay.lmi.org. This website will be open until 17 February 2007 (30 days after Industry Day). Any information you provide on the web site in response to these Government questions is for Government use only and will not be disclosed. The Government will not open a one-on-one dialogue with any vendor in response to this confidential input. You may also use the website before Industry Day to ask questions that will be answered on January 18. The final agenda item for Industry Day is an open forum for Industry questions and public answers. Date and Location The Industry Day will be held on January 18, 2007 at the LMI corporate facilities, 2000 Corporate Ridge, McLean, VA 22102-7805. The forum will commence promptly at 8:30 am and is scheduled to end at 12:30 PM EST. Attendance is limited to prime vendors w ith no more than two representatives from each vendor. Only those who register before the Industry Day will be allowed access. To register, vendors should go to website at MHSIndustryday.lmi.org If you have any questions about registering for Industry Day, please contact the Industry Day registrar, Ms Kim Murray at contact@example.gov