REPORT/RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
AND RECORD OF ACTION
February 6, 2024
FROM
WILLIAM L. GILBERT, Director, Arrowhead Regional Medical Center
SUBJECT
Title
Amendment to License Agreement with American Burn Association for Burn Care Quality Platform Software
End
RECOMMENDATION(S)
Recommendation
1. Approve Amendment No. 1 to License Agreement No. 23-320 with American Burn Association for access to the Burn Care Quality Platform full registry cloud-based software, updating agreement language to indicate that applicable fees will be invoiced on an annual basis, and increasing the annual amount from $4,500 to $5,500, with no change to the contract term effective January 1, 2023, and automatically renewing upon payment of the annual fee.
2. Authorize the Purchasing Agent to issue future annual Purchase Orders to American Burn Association, in amounts not to exceed the Purchasing Agent’s authority, for the payment of applicable annual fees under License Agreement No. 23-320.
(Presenter: William L. Gilbert, Director, 580-6150)
Body
COUNTY AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER GOALS & OBJECTIVES
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 increased annual cost of $5,500 for software licensing 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’s (ARMC) 2023-24 budget and will be included in future recommended budgets.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The recommended amendment with the American Burn Association (ABA) will allow ARMC to continue to access the Burn Care Quality Platform full registry cloud-based software. Patient data is entered directly into this registry, which collects the data and provides insight on burn care for patients. This platform provides reports designed to improve the quality and cost of burn care by collecting and exchanging information about burn injuries and outcomes.
The ABA is a non-profit organization committed to promoting and supporting burn-related research, education, care, rehabilitation, and prevention. The ABA uses a multidisciplinary membership approach to enhance the ability to work toward common goals with other organizations on burn-related educational programs. The registry and the related reports assist ARMC in understanding processes that affect patient safety and quality of care, as well as advancing staffing effectiveness and patient safety efforts.
ABA invoices for services on a calendar year from January 1st through December 31st. The initial agreement specified the fees for 2023 as $4,500 with the agreement automatically renewing annually until terminated by either party. ABA notifies ARMC yearly of the fees applicable to future years by an annual invoice.
ABA fees for 2024 increased to $5,500, from $4,500 for 2023. The amendment will allow the increase in fees for 2024 and in future years within the agreement term to be paid through Purchase Orders (POs) issued by the Purchasing Agent, as long as the amount does not exceed the Purchasing Agent’s authority.
On May 9, 2023 (Item No. 8), the Board of Supervisors approved license Agreement No. 23-20 with ABA, including non-standard terms, for access to the Burn Care Quality Platform full registry cloud-based software, in the annual amount of $4,500 for the retroactive term effective January 1, 2023, and automatically renewing annually until terminated by either party, and Business Associate Agreement No. 23-321 with ABA, including non-standard terms, for the retroactive period of January 1, 2023, and continuing for so long as ABA creates, uses, discloses, maintains, transmits or receives Personal Health Information from ARMC.
ARMC recommends approval of the amendment to continue to provide tor the safety, health and social services needs of County residents by offering burn-related information and reports that assist in understanding processes that affect patient safety and quality of care.
PROCUREMENT
This is a non-competitive procurement based on specialized credentials, as the ABA is the only vendor that offers this type of database, providing benchmarking performance against other local, similar sized, and types of facilities. The Purchasing Department recognizes specialized credentials as an acceptable non-competitive justification and continues to support ARMC’s participation in the ABA registry.
REVIEW BY OTHERS
This item has been reviewed by County Counsel (Bonnie Uphold, Supervising Deputy County Counsel, 387-5455) on January 29, 2024; Purchasing (Veronica Pedace, Buyer III, 387-2198) on January 5, 2024; ARMC Finance (Chen Wu, Finance and Budget Officer, 580-3165) on January 12, 2024; Finance (Jenny Yang, Administrative Analyst, 387-4884) on January 17, 2024; and County Finance and Administration (Valerie Clay, Deputy Executive Officer, 387-5423) on January 17, 2024.