REPORT/RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF THE COUNTY OF SAN BERNARDINO
AND RECORD OF ACTION
September 15, 2020
FROM
WILLIAM L. GILBERT, Director, Arrowhead Regional Medical Center
SUBJECT
Title v
Amendment to Agreement with Stericycle Communication Solutions, Inc. for Patient Prompt Automated Appointment Reminder System
End
RECOMMENDATION(S)
Recommendation
Approve Amendment No. 2 to Agreement No. 15-793 with Stericycle Communication Solutions, Inc., to increase the not to exceed contract amount by $103,000, from $569,000 to $672,000, and to extend the contract expiration date from October 19, 2020 through October 19, 2021, for the Patient Prompt Automated Appointment Reminder System subscription at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center.
(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 the recommendation will not result in the use of Discretionary General Funding (Net County Cost) as the additional cost of $103,000 for Patient Prompt Automated Appointment Reminder System 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. Sufficient appropriation and revenue are included in the Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC) 2020-21 budget and will be included in future recommended budgets.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Approval of this item will allow ARMC continued access to the automated appointment reminder system from Stericycle Communication Solutions, Inc. (Stericycle), which allows ARMC to notify and remind patients of their upcoming appointments. Use of the Automated System reduces the number of patients who do not show up or arrive late for their scheduled appointment and the time spent calling patients to remind them of upcoming appointments. Patient appointment reminder calls are made for several different types of appointments, including but not limited to scheduled clinic visits, surgical procedures, and specialized testing appointments.
On April 30, 2016, ARMC implemented the Automated Appointment Reminder System for the Family Health Centers (FHC). Prior to this implementation, the aggregate fail rate for FHC averaged between 21% and 24%. After implementation, the aggregate fail rates incrementally improved and are currently at 18%, with even further reduction anticipated with continued use of the Automated System.
During July of 2017, ARMC expanded use of Automated Appointment Reminder System to ambulatory specialty clinics, including ancillary services such as physical/occupational therapy, and medical imaging. In addition to the appointment reminder calls, ARMC used the system to send out message broadcast reminders to patients for health screenings and well child checks, which are part of the quality improvement pay for performance initiative with the state and local health plans. The monthly average for messages and broadcasts volume increased from 23,000 to 43,000 per month at ARMC clinics. Recently, ARMC added the system to the 26 remaining specialty clinics, which increased the call volume average again by 13,135, to an average call volume of 56,135 per month.
The subscription cost for Automated Appointment Reminder System is $0.16 per call and when call volume increases, the cost for service increases. Increased use of this service allows ARMC to operate in a fiscally responsible and business-like manner by protecting revenue streams earned from billable appointments and provides for the safety, health and social service needs of County residents by alerting patients of their upcoming appointments to ensure patients receive necessary medical care.
PROCUREMENT
On January 23, 2015, a Request for Proposal (RFP) for an appointment reminder system was released through the County of San Bernardino Electronic Procurement Network (ePro). EPro notices were sent to 24 ePro registered vendors. ARMC received proposals from the following 10 vendors:
|
Vendor |
Location |
|
Stericycle |
Lake Stevens, Washington |
|
Vocantas Inc. |
Ottawa, Ontario Canada |
|
UniVoIP |
El Segundo, California |
|
Callpointe Inc. |
Tucson, Arizona |
|
Smart Source LLC |
Mission Viejo, California |
|
Customer Contact Solutions LLC |
Newton, Massachusetts |
|
Carousel Industries of North America Inc. |
Exeter, Rhode Island |
|
North American Communication Resources Inc. |
Eagan, Minnesota |
|
ClienTell Inc. |
Valdosta, Georgia |
|
West Notifications dba TeleVox |
Mobile, Alabama |
Evaluation of the proposals was completed by a committee comprised of representatives from the ARMC Administration, Information Management, Ambulatory Care and County Purchasing Departments. Based on evaluation criteria, which included cost per call, implementation costs, information technology interfaces, ease of implementation with the least amount of additional expense for servers or additional equipment, integration with the Meditech System (ARMC’s healthcare information system), Stericycle was recommended for award. No protests were received.
On October 20, 2015 (Item No. 11), the Board of Supervisors approved Agreement No. 15-793 with Stericycle Communication Solutions, Inc. in the amount of $212,500 for the three-year period of October 20, 2015 through October 19, 2018, with an option to extend for one additional two-year period, for implementation and ongoing annual subscription of the Patient Prompt Automated Appointment Reminder System.
On January 23, 2018 (Item No. 11), the Board of Supervisors approved Approve Amendment No. 1 to Agreement No. 15-793 with Stericycle Communication Solutions, Inc. to increase the amount by $356,500, from $212,500 to $569,000, and to extend the expiration from October 19, 2018, to October 19, 2020, for the Patient Prompt Automated Appointment Reminder System subscription at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center.
This is a competitive procurement, as the initial approval for this agreement was the result of a Request for Proposal award. County Purchasing supports the amendment to this agreement as the department is currently in the process of a new RFP for this service.
REVIEW BY OTHERS
This item has been reviewed by County Counsel (Charles Phan, Deputy County Counsel, 387-5455) on August 19, 2020; Purchasing Department (Michelle Churchill, Supervising Buyer, 387-2070) on August 31, 2020; ARMC Finance (Chen Wu, Finance Budget Officer, 580-3165) on August 21, 2020; Finance (Yael Verduzco, Administrative Analyst, 387-5285) on August 24, 2020; and County Finance (Matthew Erickson, County Chief Financial Officer, 387-5423) on August 30, 2020.