REPORT/RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
AND RECORD OF ACTION
September 10, 2024
FROM
ANDREW GOLDFRACH, ARMC Chief Executive Officer, Arrowhead Regional Medical Center
SUBJECT
Title
Agreement with Next Gen Neuro, LLC for Remote Real-Time Electroencephalography Monitoring and Related Services
End
RECOMMENDATION(S)
Recommendation
Approve Agreement with Next Gen Neuro, LLC for remote real-time electroencephalography monitoring and related services, in the not-to-exceed amount of $2,625,000, for the period of October 27, 2024 through October 26, 2029.
(Presenter: Andrew Goldfrach, ARMC Chief Executive Officer, 580-6150)
Body
COUNTY AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER GOALS & OBJECTIVES
Operate in a Fiscally-Responsible and Business-Like Manner.
Provide for the Safety, Health and Social Service Needs of County Residents.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Approval of this item will not result in the use of Discretionary General Funding (Net County Cost). The cost of $2,625,000 is funded by State Medi-Cal, Federal Medicare, private insurances, and other departmental revenue. Funding sources may change in the future pending any legislative activity related to the repeal and/or replacement of the Affordable Care Act. Adequate appropriation and revenue have been included in the Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC) 2024-25 budget and will be included in future recommended budgets.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The Agreement with Next Gen Neuro, LLC (Next Gen) will allow ARMC to meet the needs of patients requiring ongoing continuous brain monitoring for seizures and other serious brain disorders. Next Gen provides real time remote “off-site” electroencephalography (EEG) wave monitoring and clinical record notations by registered EEG technologists. This service is needed to prevent the transfer of patients to other facilities, which delays critical patient care, when the continuum of care requires continuous brain monitoring. These services also include interpretating seizure activity or potential seizure risks without the need for the ARMC care team to be stationed continuously at the bedside. The Agreement also includes remote clipping, annotation, detailed reporting of continuous EEG, and ambulatory EEG by a registered EEG technician.
ARMC recommends approval of the Agreement to allow Next Gen to provide services on monitoring brain activity, interpreting seizure activity or potential seizure risks, and providing immediate notifications to the care team when changes in a patient’s condition are detected and ARMC EEG technologists are not available. In addition, these services will allow for timely review and reporting by interpreting neurologists and will provide for the safety, health, and social service needs of county residents.
PROCUREMENT
The County Administrative Office approved and authorized the release of Request for Proposals (RFP) No. ARMC124-ARMC-5278 on February 2, 2024. The RFP was posted on the County’s Electronic Procurement Network (ePro).
Two proposals were received by the established deadline in response to the RFP. Proposals from the two bidders listed below met the minimum requirements and continued through the evaluation process.
|
Agency |
Agency Address |
Cost |
|
CortiCare Inc |
5901 Priestly Dr., Suite 306, Carlsbad, CA 92008 |
$26 per hour per patient (Continuous EEG Monitoring$12 per hour per patient (Intermittent EEG Monitoring) $227,760 per day (1 patient per day for 365 days continuous) $911,040 per day (4 patients per day for 365 days continuous) $1,366,560 per day (6 patients per day for 365 days continuous) |
|
Next Gen Neuro, LLC |
3042 S County Road 375 E, Plainfield, Indiana 46168 |
$16 - $36 per hour per patient (Continuous EEG Monitoring) $13 - $31 per hour per patient (Intermittent EEG Monitoring) $262,656 per day (1 patient per day for 365 days continuous) $560,333 per day (4 patients per day for 365 days continuous) $840,500 per day (6 patients per day for 365 days continuous |
The evaluation committee, with representation from ARMC’s Respiratory Department, reviewed and evaluated the proposals based on the criteria released in the RFP. The criteria included Qualifications and Experience, Technical Review, References, and Cost.
Based on the evaluation criteria, the evaluation committee determined Next Gen best meets the needs of ARMC, and thus, recommends the award of the Agreement to Next Gen to provide the EEG monitoring and related services. Award and denial letters were sent to all bidders, advising the non-selected bidder of the opportunity to submit a formal written protest based on the criteria in the RFP. No protests were received by the deadline.
The Purchasing Department supports this competitive procurement based on the solicitation mentioned above.
REVIEW BY OTHERS
This item has been reviewed by County Counsel (Charles Phan, Supervising Deputy County Counsel, 387-5455) on August 6, 2024; Purchasing (Veronica Pedace, Buyer III, 387-2464) on August 6, 2024; ARMC Finance (Chen Wu, Finance Budget Officer, 580-3165) on August 16, 2024; Finance (Jenny Yang, Administrative Analyst, 387-4884) on August 20, 2024; and County Finance and Administration (Valerie Clay, Deputy Executive Officer, 387-5423) on August 21, 2024.