RFI led by Tennessee in conjunction with Alabama, California, Colorado, Georgia, Maine, Missouri, New York (Department of Health and the New York eHealth Collaborative), North Carolina, and South Carolina
Enterprise Medication Management Services RFI
Posted on Tennessee site on June 17, 2010 and on State HIE Toolkit on June 23, 2010.
“The State of Tennessee, in conjunction with nine other states, is conducting market research regarding enterprise medication management technologies and services.”
The nine other states are Alabama, California, Colorado, Georgia, Maine, Missouri, New York (Department of Health and the New York eHealth Collaborative), North Carolina, and South Carolina.
“Click the following link to download (pdf) our States’ request for information (RFI):
Medication Management RFI – 6-17-10.pdf
“Responses to this RFI will assist our States in understanding the current state of the marketplace, including commercial/government best practices, industry capabilities, innovative delivery approaches, commercial market service levels, and performance strategies and measures. Information gained through this RFI will greatly assist our States in determining how best to advance innovative medication management services.”
These states appear to be looking for technology and services which could be offered across multiple states. While the document reads like an RFP, it clearly states that it is not a competition but a method for the states to “improve” their “knowledge of private industry’s capabilities.”
RFI Time Line:
RFI published on June 17, 2010
Vendors may submit written questions to the Tennessee Office of e-Health Initiatives until 5:00 p.m. Central Time June 28, 2010
Answers to written vendor questions will be posted on the Tennessee Office of e-Health Initiatives website http://www.tennesseeanytime.org/ehealth by 5:00 p.m. Central time July 1, 2010
RFI responses are due by 5:00 p.m. Central Time July 12, 2010
Excerpted from RFI:
A. STATEMENT OF INTENT:
“The State of Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration, Office of eHealth Initiatives (OEHI), issues this Request for Information on behalf of the states named above for the purpose of conducting market research regarding enterprise medication management technologies and services from industry leaders and top performers (see appendix for list of lead representatives from each participating state). These services will be offered statewide among our states to providers through coordinated access. Information provided will assist our States in understanding the current state of the marketplace, including commercial/government best practices, industry capabilities, innovative delivery approaches, commercial market service levels, and performance strategies and measures.
“This market research is not a competition. The information obtained from submitted written responses and/or oral presentations will be used only to improve the States’ knowledge of private industry’s capabilities. No evaluation of participating vendors will occur and your participation is not a promise of future business with any participating State. Responding or not responding to this RFI does not preclude the vendor from bidding on any future solicitations. Any pricing information provided in your information packet must meet the strict guidelines outlined in C.14.
“Information obtained through this RFI will be shared among participating states to encourage complimentary development of services across multiple states. Entities responding to this RFI should be aware that information they provide will be subject to the public records laws of each state. The Tennessee Public Records Act, for example, requires disclosure of State records unless there is a specific exception in State or Federal law. As we specify in C.14 we are not seeking pricing information regarding individual solution capabilities. In addition, the States reserve the right to amend, extend, or re-release this RFI.
“After reviewing the information obtained through this RFI, each participating State will determine its own next steps, including whether and how to pursue a procurement process.
“The States appreciate your cooperation and look forward to a very meaningful, productive, and collaborative market research effort.”
B. BACKGROUND:
“The States are considering offering several enterprise services through existing and contemplated statewide health information exchange (HIE) to assist medical providers in complying with the meaningful use criteria developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Among these services the States are specifically interested in gauging the need for and ability for vendor(s) to provide a medication management solution that offers medication retrieval and aggregation of prescription (new, refills, etc.) information from identified sources (e.g. private e-prescribing networks, medication management hubs, pharmacies, hospitals, others) to medical providers, including pharmacists. Further, the States are considering whether this enterprise medication management solution should include one or both of the following services: (1) medication history, including analytical services and medication reconciliation, and (2) e-prescribing support, including prescription management, eligibility, and formulary information. See Section C for more specific desired capabilities for both of these services.
“Medication management is an increasingly important part of health care, especially for those with chronic conditions and co-morbidities. It is relevant at almost every point of care, from primary to specialist to acute care and back. Ready access to aggregated, reconciled medication information has the potential to significantly reduce errors and enhance treatment effectiveness; more than half of patients experience one or more unintended medication discrepancies at hospital admission. Today the most promising medication management approach is still the “brown bag” method: ask the patient to bring every medication they have in a brown bag and attempt to reconcile through an interview at the encounter. Some information is now available from claims data or retail fill data, but it is not integrated and often has errors or is difficult to interpret. Claims data have latency issues and retail data only capture prescriptions filled in network, missing important sources such as samples and low-priced generics often paid for out-of-pocket. Over the Counter (OTC) medications, both non-prescription and previously prescribed (e.g. Prilosec), are also missing. Inpatient medication is also not integrated, though it is now more often available through Admission, Discharge, and Transfer (ADT) messages. Further, once these sources become available, new issues arise such as duplicate entries, inability to distinguish episodic vs. long-term therapy, data deluge if all records are returned in raw form, etc. Ultimately, creating a robust medication management platform is a challenging process. The lack of such a platform, though, impedes the move towards integrated care and poses even larger challenges to improving the quality of health care.
“Ideally, there would be a platform that would:
–Connect to all sources of information
–Facilitate e-prescribing and refill requests
–Provide decision support
–Analyze the raw data to provide a clean, comprehensive stream of information, including normalization of terminology, taking out duplicates, etc.
–Enable access to this information through standardized interfaces
–Easily add new sources of information
–Provide aggregate analysis of de-identified data to support integrated care and public health: trends by medication, condition, or geography; re-identification for public health issues such as surveillance, etc.
“For this market research, a special emphasis is placed on determining whether it is feasible and/or appropriate for the States to provide an enterprise medication management solution as well as what capabilities such a solution should/could include. We are also interested in exploring business models that would result in a financially sustainable solution. We believe this information will dramatically improve the quality of a possible forthcoming acquisition among our States, inclusive of the solicitation and resulting contract.
“The States will consider all service approaches and highly encourage vendors to participate is this market research effort.”
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See pdf for complete details, Medication Management RFI – 6-17-10.pdf , as well as check back with Tennessee Office of e-Health Initiatives for any updates.
Additional Item in State HIE Toolkit:
Accessed 6/24/2010.
Inventory of publicly available RFPs for technical services (updated 12/2009)
