REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL NO. 15-048
Business and Finance Consulting Services
ADDENDUM NO. 1
Submittal Deadline: 3:00 PM, June 24, 2015
This Addendum No. 1 hereby forms and is made a part of the Request for Proposal No. 15-048, dated May 26, 2015, for Business and Finance Consulting Services. The following denoted Subsection Paragraph listed below shall be substituted for, or additions for, the Subsection Paragraph in RFP No. 15-048. Respondent must acknowledge receipt of this addendum in Section 6 of the RFP (Pricing Schedule).
The following are questions asked by prospective Respondents and UTMB’s response.
1. Q: Clarify if UTMB physician component is on the EPIC platform?
A: Yes
2. Q: Are there any faculty or affiliated positions involved in the scope?
A: Yes, UTMB is largely faculty and some affiliated physicians. All RCO operations are centralized.
3. Q: Name of all the facilities that are involved in this RFP.
A: The Health System includes the Galveston Campus, League City Area, and Angelton Campus. UTMB has multiple clinics in Galveston and Brazoria counties with a growing presence in Angleton and Lake Jackson; all staffed by physicians from the Faculty Group Practice. They are all listed on our website.
4. Q: What version of EPIC platform is UTMB on?
A: Version 2014
5. Q: Provide a total count of full time employees.
A: Revenue Cycle staffs approximately 300 employees. Total faculty members are just under 900, with clinical full-time billing equivalents of approximately 450.
6. Q: Talent Succession Planning Strategy – what are the expectations?
A: The Vice President of Revenue Cycle recently resigned, we are looking for consultation regarding requirements, qualifications and duties of that position as well as the RCO management team.
7. Q: What is the current cross between physician activity and hospital activity?
A: Separate billing occurs for the physician and hospital activity on the respective CMS 1500 and UB claim forms. Patient sees a single statement.
8. Q: Do you currently provide specialize billing?
A: Yes, RCO has an area developed for specialty billing which includes; grants, research and other agency intiatives.
9. Q: What is the objective UTMB is looking for regarding financial opportunity vs expectations of work on the 1st phase of this project?
A: A comprehensive engagement.
10. Q: Is UTMB looking to move to engagement rapidly rather than a long evaluation period?
A: UTMB will be implementing the scope of the RFP immediately.
11. Q: The timeline outlined in RFP stated a 30-60 day period with reference to possible future
engagements. Please provide additional information.
A: With actionable data and positive results UTMB may re-engage at a later date.
12. Q: How long have you been hospital based physicians?
A: Since inception.
13. Q: How long have we operated as a provider based clinic?
A: Our clinics have been provider-based for more tha a decade.
14. Q: Does UTMB envision a strategy and potential plan and/or activation of same from an outside partner?
A: Internal to activate strategy, if we do not have the capabilities we would step back and decide our next steps.
15. Q: Terms and conditions stand point – is submission of previously negotiated term and conditions acceptable?
A: Yes please be sure to note any exceptions.
16. Q: From a process standpoint will a few vendors be selected or will there be one and awarded?
A: Our intention is to bring the top vendors onsite for oral interviews.
17. Q: Is UTMB planning to identify additional third party contractors (Clearinghouse, etc.)?
A: Not at this time.
18. Q: Will charge entry by clinical users be included in the scope of this assessment?
A: A review of the charge reconciliations activities will be included as part of the scope of this assessment.
19. Q: Has UTMB participated in similar consulting engagements previously? If so, what were the goals? What worked well or needed improvement?
A: No.
20. Q: Please comment on the flexibility of the time allowed for the scope of work, in particular related to completing a “deep dive assessment” in the timeframes indicated in Sections 4.4 and 4.5, pages 12 and 13 of the RFP?
A: The scope of work is to occur as stated in the timeframe listed in the RFP.
21. Q: What is the current process around understanding charge capture and revenue leakage? Is there a dedicated team?
A: We hope to gain a better understanding of these topics through this Revenue Cycle assessment.
22. Q: Is there a timeline around upgrading to Epic 2015?
A: No.
23. Q: Can UTMB provide a technical optimization priority list?
A: We look for the Revenue Cycle assessment to help inform a priority list.
24. Q: Is there a workplan around operational improvement based on current identified pain points for the revenue cycle?
A: We feel the Revenue Cycle assessment will inform the operational improvement workplan.
25. Q: What is the comfort level on preparations for ICD-10 from both a technical and operational perspective?
A: We hope to gain a better understanding of our ICD-10 preparations through this Revenue Cycle assessment.
26. Q: What is the current contract environment? What percentage of the contracts are risk based vs. fee for service? Does UTMB have any capitated plans?
A: No risk based or capitated contracts.
27. Q: Does scheduling report through revenue cycle or operations? How centralized are scheduling functions?
A: All scheduling of ambulatory appointments are centralized, at this time. Surgical appointments are managed by OR personnel.
28. Q: What vendors and third party tools are in place?
A: Bad debt vendors primarily.
29. Q: What are the top denials / avoidable write-off issues?
A: We hope to gain a better understanding of these areas through this Revenue Cycle assessment.
30. Q: Please describe the current self-pay process. What vendors are involved in the workflow (outsourcing, bad debt)? What timelines are in place? Are self-pay follow-up levels used to automate account flow within Epic?
A: We hope to gain a better understanding of this area through this Revenue Cycle assessment.
31. Q: Is UTMB using the following Epic functionality? If so, how are they being used?
Visit filing order
Contracts / Underpayment and Variance follow up
Cube reporting
Patient liability estimation
Workqueue scoring
Revenue Guardian
MyChart
Patient-facing kiosks
A: We look to Revenue Cycle assessment to inform this question.
Prepared By: Terrie Beasley
Senior Acquisition Specialist
Date: June 15, 2015
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Revision 1.0; eff. 01/28/02