Posted: June 20, 2022, 11:42 a.m. EDT
The U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Medical Services (MED) will host a virtual Industry Day on April 18, 2022, from 9:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M EDT. This event will allow MED to brief industry about MED's mission and background, current telehealth capabilities and challenges, and walkthrough the Telehealth Virtual Medical Specialist Consultations draft Performance Work Statement (PWS). This will allow the government to provide interested parties with a better understanding of how to do business with the Federal Government, review the Telehealth draft PWS, and discuss on the overall solicitation process.
MED's Mission
MED's mission is to safeguard and promote the health and well-being of America's diplomatic community. MED administers the Department of State's (Department or DOS) health care program mandated by the Foreign Service Act of 1980, develops, and implements medical policies for the Department, and advises the Secretary on global health care issues. MED supports the most globally distributed primary and occupational health care system for civilian employees and eligible dependents in the federal government. In over 220 locations around the world, MED supports a direct hire workforce of over 75,000 employees, and an embassy community with well over 150,000 persons. MED is comprised of a global network spread across over 200 Health Units (HU) and posts. As medical science advances and blends with emerging technology, MED must keep pace to provide a world-class standard of medical care in a resource-constrained environment.
Background:
MED's patient population's medical needs range across the lifespan, including pediatrics, obstetrics, adults, and geriatrics. MED encounters almost every disease Americans have. Health care staff support patients worldwide, and as such, must be sensitive to language barriers and cultural differences.
MED's current telemedicine program focuses on rapid access to emergency care and specialist consultations in relation to emergency care visits. At present, MED providers can call in and speak with an Emergency Room (ER) physician (provider to provider) at a level one trauma center in the U.S., 24 hours per day, seven days per week (24/7). If the consultation is emergent or deemed an emergency , the ER physician will provide real-time guidance to the provider on the ground. If it is a non-urgent specialty consultation, the request is routed to the appropriate specialist and a written report is returned in 24 hours. Currently, there is a limited list of available specialties. Since the implementation of that program, there have been 407 consults completed.
MED seeks to expand its access to specialist consultations to improve our ability to meet the needs of our employees and their eligible family members. Specifically, MED seeks to contract with a hospital system or other similar network of U.S. board certified medical specialists who can provide dynamic, comprehensive, and efficient specialist support to augment our global MED healthcare staff. Additionally, MED seeks to build relationships with specialists, as well as ensure that our patients receive continuity in their medical care.
Scope Synopsis:
The Contractor shall provide real-time medical specialist consultations for emergency, urgent, and non-urgent medical care including chronic condition management, as well as mental health services. These consultations in most all cases shall be conducted via the provider's telehealth platform based on the global footprint of MED's patient population. The Contractor shall provide MED with the ability to access all U.S. board certified specialties to support its patient population, including but not limited to neonates, pediatrics, adults, and geriatrics, as well as physical and mental health. Personnel identified as a specialist shall have appropriate professional licensure associated with that specialty. For historical purposes, from 2017-2019, the majority of MED's teleconsultations were based on urgent or emergent inquiries related to orthopedics and radiology inquiries. Other less frequent teleconsultations included:
- Peds Orthopedics
- Emergency Medicine (24/7)
- Neurology
- Dermatology
- Neurosurgery
- Gastroenterology
- Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Surgery
- Ophthalmology
- Neonatal Intensivist
- Pulmonary
- Podiatry
- Hematology/Oncology
- Oral Surgery
- ENT
- Pain Management
- Rheumatology
- Peds Endocrine
- Peds Oncology
Expected Outcome
- Improve the process of doing business with the U.S. Department of State and MED
- Collaborate on how to better expand the business partnership between MED and industry
- Engage with Industry to conduct effective market research
- Provide up-to-date and accurate information about the MED's mission and requirements
- Share current telehealth challenges and lessons learned to better promote remote health care
- Conduct Virtual Industry Day presentation scheduled for April 18, 2022
Participation:
The Government anticipates conducting this event via Microsoft Teams:
Join on your computer or mobile app
Click here to join the meeting
Or call in (audio only)
+1 509-824-1908,,645626721# United States, Spokane
Phone Conference ID: 645 626 721#
Industry Questions:
A template will be provided to submit questions. Questions shall be submitted utilizing the document titled Template for Vendor Questions . This will help provide uniformity while gathering questions. Questions should be submitted in advance to harlowal@state.gov and KershnerK@state.gov no later than April 15, 2022, by 12:00 P.M. It is the Government's intent to answer as many questions as possible during the Q&A session on Industry Day.
Additional questions will be entertained during Industry Day, to be submitted via Slido:
https://app.sli.do/event/71sEwj1Vz1WjsvxbmuNp7f
Please use #DOSMED to submit questions.
Government Questions for Industry:
In order to foster the maximum amount of competition, the Government would like to solicit industry feedback on how to better develop its requirements as well as any specific feedback on the draft PWS. To do so, the Government welcomes responses to the following questions to be submitted to harlowal@state.gov and KershnerK@state.gov no later than April 22, 2022, by 12:00 P.M.
- Are these requirements feasible? How can we further refine and bolster? Are we missing anything? When you read through the requirements, where do you get nervous?
- Is it feasible to provide services to DOS employees where payment may be remitted by different parties (e.g., DOS, insurance carrier, employee)?
- What are the risks (timeline or otherwise) with the presented requirements and approach?
- What specific information or reference documents do you need to submit a well thought-out, comprehensive technical and price proposal?
- How long does your company need to submit a well thought-out, comprehensive technical and price proposal?
- How do you infuse innovation in a way that is more than just words on paper?
- Do you have any other concerns or questions?
Disclaimer:
This notice shall not be construed as a request for proposals, request for quotes, or follow-up acquisition of any type. DOS will not assume liability for costs incurred by attendees or for preparations, travel expenses or marketing efforts; therefore, vendors' expenses in response to this notice are not considered an allowable direct charge to the Government. All schedules are subject to change.
NOTE: Industry Day slide deck will be uploaded this week. Please continue to monitor SAM.gov frequently to receive the latest updates on MED's Industry Day.
04/13/2022: Industry Day slide deck and revised Agenda are hereby uploaded.
04/17/2022: Industry Day slide deck V3 is hereby uploaded.
04/18/2022: Recording of Industry Day is hereby uploaded.
6/13/2022: MED's Response to Industry Day questions is hereby uploaded.
6/20/2022: Industry Day audio recording is hereby uploaded. There are three (3) .mp4 files.
