Federal contractor CSSi, has been awarded a prime contract for Flow Improvement Initiative Support Services as part of the Veterans Affairs Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology (T4) Contract Vehicle. The Flow Improvement initiative seeks to implement innovative technologies and processes that streamline patient flow, maximize resources and save costs. CSSi was most recently involved in the congressional fracas over healthcare.gov, when Finance and Judiciary Committee Ranking Members Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) sent letters to the 47 different companies including CSSi over their involvement on the construction of healthcare.gov.
Under the terms of the contract, which has a performance period of one year with one option year, Team CCSi will provide the VA a broad range of services designed to assist VHA in carrying the Flow Improvement Initiative from conception to sustainment. Specifically, the companies will support business and clinical organizations in integrating flow IT systems into their operations to streamline processes, reduce redundancies and improve the delivery of health care.
These systems include Emergency Department Integration Software (EDIS), a web-based extension to the current Computerized Patient Record System that helps health care professionals track and manage the flow of patient care in the emergency-department setting; a Bed Management Solution (BMS) system; and related flow improvement systems such as National Utilization Management Integration (NUMI) software, a web-based application that automates documentation of a patient’s condition, and the Surgery Quality and Workflow Manager (SQWM), a commercial off-the-shelf implementation of surgical scheduling and patient tracking software. The long-term goal is to integrate these individual applications within a Comprehensive Flow Management (CFM) approach to future software application development.
Upgrades and efficiency improvements to the VA health system have been troubled since their inception and in the works for a number of years. CivSource previously reported on the successful re-bid of another health IT contract from the VA to continue updating health systems.
“These applications, if resourced and once fully deployed and in use across VHA, have the potential to provide comprehensive patient tracking, integrated flow data capture and analysis, visibility of inpatient flow across the enterprise, and flow improvement metrics and benchmarks, among other projected benefits.”
