Maritime Medical Services Consultant

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is conducting a market survey to determine the availability of contractors to provide medical advice, programmatic support, medical direction, and clinical oversight of United States Public Health Service nurse practitioners and physician assistants providing medical services to individuals aboard the NOAA fleet of ships. Potential Contractors MUST have experience in maritime medicine as it pertains to life at sea. Potential contractors must be qualified to provide the following: A. PERSONNEL: 1. The contractor shall provide a medical director, who shall be a board certified (American Board of Medical Specialties, ABMS) emergency physician with experience in maritime medicine, and will have overall responsibility for the medical services provided within the scope of this proposed contract. An assistant medical director, also a board certified emergency physician with experience in maritime medicine, is also required and will have overall responsibility when the medical director is not available. 2. The appointed medical director, or other appointee, shall have overall responsibility for compliance with the terms of the contract and be required to maintain communications and arrange all services as required under the scope of work. B. MEDICAL ADVICE AND CONSULTATION: 1. Medical advice calls to the contractor will be initiated by the NOAA Medical Officer on an as needed basis. The contractor shall provide one or more board certified emergency physicians with maritime medicine experience (attending) to serve as on-line medical control on a 24 hours a day, seven-days a week basis to respond to requests for medical advice calls. The contractor shall respond to such calls immediately. 2. All medical advice calls, and any subsequent follow-up calls, will be managed by the contractors attending physician (attending), who will communicate directly with the NOAA Medical Officer. The Attending will provide consultation, assessment, recommendation for treatment, determination of level of service and advice regarding whether a medical at-sea patient evacuation is deemed necessary to the Medical Officer, who shall be responsible for making the final decision regarding patient care. 3. Contractor shall maintain a separate 24/7 phone-line designated for emergency calls, with back-up phone numbers available for NOAA ships and Medical Officers. 4. The contractor shall provide each NOAA vessel covered by this requirement with a Medical Protocols Manual and two additional copies to keep shore-side. The manual shall contain instructions and guidance on how to access contractor services. In addition, the manual shall include the contractor's medical assessment guidelines and required information for patient dialogue. 5. The contractor shall communicate information regarding the NOAA employee to NOAA Director of Health Services within twenty-four hours, and on an as needed basis, consistent with all applicable laws regarding such disclosures, until the case is closed. A written client report shall be made available within 24 hours of each case the contractor responds to. NOAA Director of Health Services shall have access to the report at the opening of the case and the report shall be sent to the NOAA Director of Health Services upon closure of the case. NOAA hereby acknowledges that the contractor is obligated under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to disclose only the minimum necessary protected health information, as defined in HIPAA privacy regulations, regarding the Remote Client Employee. 6. The contractor shall offer case management services for NOAA employees treated at an onshore medical facility. This involves the contractor communicating with the individuals health-care provider or emergency medical facility to monitor the NOAA employees condition, appropriateness of care, prognosis, fitness for travel determination and further case management services as appropriate. C. QUARTERLY REVIEWS / CLINICAL OVERSIGHT 1. Contractor shall provide physician medical direction and clinical oversight for the Physician Assistants (PAs); Nurse Practitioners (NPs); and Registered Nurses (RNs) practicing with NOAA. The following services shall be included: a) Clinical supervision provided by the contractor the medical director and assistant medical director. b) A quarterly chart review: (1) Quarterly review of all shipboard medical sick call logs generated by NPs, PAs, and RNs to include crewmembers name and chief complaint. (2) From this review, a minimum of 5% of patient care medical visits will be selected for further review. In addition to review of 5% of the cases, a medical case review of every visit where controlled substances were prescribed shall be done. (3) This selection of cases shall be done and the NOAA Director of Health Services notified no later than two (2) weeks after submission of the medical sick call logs. (4) A written summary of the quarterly chart review shall be sent to the NOAA Director of Health Services no later than 30 days after receipt of all cases requested. This review shall include but not be limited to: - Quarter and year for which the review is being provided - Medical Officer and Ship or vessel name being reviewed - Patient name - Date of review - Name of Reviewer - Comments that address quality of documentation provided, degree to which the medical standard of care was met, other considerations in the differential diagnoses or in the physical exam, other pertinent instructions, recommendations, or guidance c) Clinical supervision of P.A.s through direct communication with the contractor for case management onboard the vessel. D. MEDICAL AND SPECIALIST CONSULTATIONS 1. The contractors appointed medical director or assistant medical director shall be available to the NOAA Director of Health Services for consultation and/or discussion regarding medical/medical administrative or other related issues as necessary. The average number of calls are estimated to seven (7) calls made per month with numbers fluctuating month to month. E. NOT-FIT FOR DUTY CONSULTATIONS: 1. Contractor shall review NOAA Individualized Assessments (IAs) and to make a recommendation regarding the employees Fitness for Duty status (maximum of 20 per contract year). This recommendation shall be made in writing and sent to the NOAA Director of Health Services no later than two (2) weeks after receipt of the IA. The intended procurement will be classified under NAICS code 621111 with a size standard of $10.0 million. NOAA intends to negotiate a firm-fixed-price contract for the work described above. Firms responding to this market survey should provide a capability statement which explains their ability to perform the services as stated above. Offerors should include a description of significant subcontracting that will be required to provide the required services. Responding firms should provide their capability statement to Contract Specialist, Dennis Chan, by email at Dennis.Chan@noaa.gov no later than November 27, 2013. All questions regarding this announcement should be addressed to the Contract Specialist at the email address stated above.