Connected Communities Implementation Grant Program

Connected Communities Implementation Grant Program (Solicitation No. 2015-MeHI-05) Questions and Answers

ADDED ON: June 16, 2015

1. May organizations who received awards Organizations that are grantees under the under the eQIP Grant apply for the eQIP Grant may apply for the Connected Connected Communities Grant Program? Communities Grant, so long as the intended use case for the Communities Grant is different than the use case for the eQIP Grant.

2. May an organization participate in more An organization may participate in more than one Connected Communities Grant? than one Connected Communities Grant, but the same organization cannot receive more than one grant. The organization could be a grantee on one grant, and a collaborator on another grant. In such case, the use cases for the two grants must be different.

3. Do both care coordination scenarios – Yes, at a minimum, two use cases with a care transitions and care management – related measure(s) each must be proposed need to be proposed in the application? in the application.

4. When does MeHI pay the planning MeHI will make the planning payment of payment? 10% of the contract value (up to $25,000) upon contract execution. Please see Section 2.1 of the Solicitation document for more details.

5. Can an application be represented by Yes. Collaborating organizations may be organizations that span MeHI’s defined from different communities and different communities? regions.

6. Is there a page limit to the Full There is a 12-page limit to the Proposal Application? Narrative that must be included with the Full Application. Please see Section 5.4 of the Solicitation for more details.

7. May long term care centers as well as Yes, both may be collaborators on one Federally Qualified Health Centers grant. They may also be a lead/applying (FQHCs) act as collaborators on one organization. grant? 8. In the pre-application, does Att. D count No. against the 3 page limit?

9. What is a TPO-type organization? A TPO organization is one that is involved in patient treatment, payment or healthcare operations. Examples include medical practices, health plans, and hospitals.

Please see Section 5.5 of the Solicitation for the TPO definition and more details. 10. Would it be acceptable to include a If the middleware appliance in reference is a middleware appliance to facilitate LAND box, or some integration engine, then information sharing among different EHRs it would be acceptable to include it. and with non-TPOs as appropriate?

11. What is the minimum number of There is no defined minimum number of collaborating partners allowed for the collaborators. As stated in Section 3.1 of project? the Solicitation, MeHI encourages between 4 to 8 TPO-type unaffiliated collaborators, with 8 or more total collaborators.

12. Can a behavioral health organization Yes. serve as a Lead Agency?

13. Is there an expected outline and format for Yes. Please see Section 5.4 of the the pre-application document? Solicitation for the expected outline and documentation for the pre-application.

14. How is this grant different from the SIM MeHI encourages organizations to integrate grant/e-referral process? Can we build on with or extend other state and federally this? funded investments in health IT, including SIM (the State Innovation Model program funded through CMS). We ask that you highlight your participation in the SIM program in your application, and how you intend to build on your SIM program activities. While proposed efforts may be complementary to what you are doing under SIM, they should not be duplicative. 15. $100,000 only goes so far – would that be The maximum grant award value is a reason for minimizing collaborators? $500,000. Applications may propose a budget of less than $500,000. It is at the discretion of the applicants to decide how the award would be distributed among grant collaborators. Funding may be used to hire

-2- personnel to facilitate the grant, or to fund existing staff.

16. If four TPOs within a certain region apply That is up to the discretion of the applicants. separately, would you recommend to each If the efforts of the four TPOs are related, organization that they combine their efforts then combining into one application makes into one application? would be acceptable. If the four TPOs have different aims, then separate applications would be more appropriate.

17. May existing use cases be expanded to Yes. With the Connected Communities help support the efforts of other Grant we are looking to expand and communities invited to complete the full strengthen existing use cases, and to bring application? on more trading partners. We also encourage new use cases.

18. Where is the pre-application located in the The pre-application guidelines are located in Solicitation? Section 5.4 of the Solicitation.

19. Some organizations have trouble Under this grant, it is up to the grantee and establishing what the legal medical record collaborators to determine the best method is when providers from different to share information among the grant team organizations document and manage the to meet the proposed use case and related care of patients in an application which measure targets. may be owned by one of the organizations. How is this handled under the Communities Grant?

20. My organization is officially connected to Yes, HIway webmail is a suitable technology the Mass HIway by webmail. However, is to exchange information with collaborators that sufficient to be considered ‘health IT’ under this grant. since it is essentially just a secure email system?

21. What is the cost of the interface for a The Mass. HIway rates are located on this Health Center? webpage: http://www.masshiway.net/HPP/HowtoJoin/ Rates/index.htm

22. If the collaborating entities are part of a Yes. There is an expectation that the TPO- single large system, does each entity type collaborators are unaffiliated, per count as a trading partner? Section 3.1 of the Solicitation. Please also see Section 5.5 for the definition of ‘affiliated’.

It is acceptable for multiple entities within

-3- one system to be collaborators, but alone it is insufficient to meet the intent of this grant.

23. Are the funds okay to be used in We encourage you to integrate efforts under conjunction with related tasks being the Communities grant with other funded performed under Partnership for efforts. While MeHI has an interest in all Community Health population health efforts, we specifically want to ensure these grants? funds are needed and are not duplicative to other State and Federally funded efforts. 24. Can community collaborators be While there is no requirement to have an organizations that do not have electronic EHR under this grant, organizations are medical records? required to have the ability to exchange information digitally. 25. Is there a limit to how many grants will be MeHI anticipates awarding between 5 and 8 issued? Will there be a limit to grants by grants. There is no limit on grants awarded community and/or region? within a specific community or region.

26. Can Grant funds be used to hire Yes. Grant funds may be used to hire contractors/consultants to support the external contractors/consultants to support Grant and be used by collaborators? Can the Grant, and the Grant collaborators. The the funds be used for additional staff? Grant funds may also be used for existing staff, or to hire new staff.

27. Can this Grant be used in conjunction with Integrating with ongoing efforts from other the e-referral requirement in PWTF to state agencies is encouraged. If there is a integrate care with community based way to leverage the e-referral work for the organizations such as the visiting nurse Connected Communities Grant in a non- association and the YMCA? duplicative manner, then that would be acceptable.

28. If we already have many physician Organizations included on the grant as practices and at least one hospital collaborators are expected to contribute to involved and connected, do those sites meeting the outcomes/measures identified have to be included as specific in the grant application. Further, collaborators rather than the proposed organizations listed as collaborators under new connected organizations? the grant may have requirements they need to meet under the grant agreement in order for the grantee to achieve a milestone. Simply adding collaborators without the expectation of what they need to contribute may jeopardize milestone achievement.

29. Can a community health center be a lead Yes. agency?

30. Are there a minimum and a maximum The Grant should include the participation of

-4- number of collaborating organizations that multiple unaffiliated collaborating may comprise the applicant team? organizations that includes at a minimum a Behavioral Health or a Long-Term/Post- Acute Care organization. While the Solicitation does not specify the number of collaborating organizations, roughly 4 to 8 TPO-type unaffiliated collaborators would be expected, with 8 or more total collaborators (i.e., affiliated, unaffiliated; TPO, non-TPO) encouraged.

Please see Section 3.1 for more details.

31. What is the maximum amount of money, Payments per year for a team will vary per year, for a team? depending on how quickly the team achieves each milestone. While individual incentive payments will vary, we anticipate payments to range between approximately $50,000 and $125,000 per milestone, up to a maximum of $500,000 per award for the planning payment and all four milestones.

32. Are third and fourth year renewals of the At this time, MeHI does not anticipate Grant possible? renewing the Grant for third or fourth years.

33. Our organization uses e-referrals with Many organizations may have a connection several health centers, and is also to exchange information digitally. The connected to a HIE. How will the degree to which the organizations are Connected Communities Grant apply for leveraging the health information exchange our organization that already has these has been low. The Connected Communities capabilities in place? Grant encourages building and/or strengthening the exchange of health information with new trading partners, to interconnect more organizations to improve patient care.

34. Do you have an expectation or vision for We see much opportunity to work with the types of documentation that may be civic/municipal-type organizations. Two shared between a TPO and civic examples that would be highly valued by organization? MeHI include: 1) Addressing the opioid epidemic in MA. Opioid addiction is a problem across MA that is hitting many communities hard. Schools, law- enforcement, local governments and the healthcare system have an

-5- opportunity to work together to address this problem. In this scenario, the sharing of PHI may or may not be required. The referrals could come from the community to the healthcare organization, as an example. 2) Managing the on-going health of school-aged children, e.g., chronic conditions, behavioral health problems, concussion management, immunization tracking. This is an area where tighter coordination between schools, emergency services, families and the healthcare system could have a powerful impact of the lives of children. 35. How can an organization become a MeHI encourages organizations that have collaborative partner? an interest in each other to reach out to one another.

36. Would an IPA that already runs an HIE The primary requirement of the lead qualify as a lead organization? It is applicant is that they are a TPO-type involved with quality measurement, organization (see Section 5.5 for a definition contracting, and is connected to an of TPO). academic network.

37. Will behavioral health organizations be Behavioral health (“BH”) organizations are a prioritized for funding in this grant? key organization type MeHI is working to integrate into the broader healthcare system. Applicants shall propose a BH or a Long Term Post Acute Care (“LTPAC”) organization as part of their application. BH organizations are encouraged to apply for this grant.

38. Can a behavioral health EHR vendor be a Yes, an EHR vendor may act as a collaborator on the Grant? collaborator.

39. What is the latest start and end date of the The Grant period of performance begins Grant? upon contract execution. The duration of the Grant is 2 years from the contract execution date.

40. Could you define what the 15 communities MeHI suggests visiting the Health Policy

-6- are and their relationship to MEHI? Commission’s webpage to learn more about the program and the 15 communities, or region’s as they call them.

http://www.mass.gov/anf/docs/hpc/2013- cost-trends-report-technical-appendix-b3- regions-of-massachusetts.pdf 41. After we send in the pre-application we will Upon submission of your pre-application you get invited for the final application? will be part of the pool of applicants. MeHI will conduct a review of all applicants and will invite some of them to submit a full application. The submission of a pre- application does not guarantee selection to submit a full application. It is a competitive process. 42. After we send in the pre- application, how MeHI anticipates inviting selected applicants long after will it take to know if we apply? to submit a full application by mid to late July 2015. The turn-around time largely depends on the number of submitted pre-applications.