US Coast Guard Ambulatory Clinic Accreditation Services

This announcement is a Request for Information (RFI/Sources Sought notice. The location for these services will be the contiguous United States, as well as Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. Under the direction of the United States Coast Guard (USCG) Health, Safety, and Work-Life Service Center (HSWL-SC), the USCG ambulatory health care clinics are responsible for achieving external accreditation through a civilian accreditation agency with current national and state recognition.

The USCG operates ambulatory health care clinics throughout the contiguous United States, as well as Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, offering outpatient medical, dental, and vision care, as well as pharmacy, radiology and laboratory services.

Specifically, the type of care provided includes outpatient medicine utilizing the patient centered wellness home model, and can include aviation medicine, preventive medicine, physical therapy, optometry, dentistry, occupational medicine, dental anesthesiology, pharmacy, behavioral healthcare and telehealth. To ensure continued participation in TRICARE, USCG clinics must be externally accredited.

Additionally, in accordance with the Defense Health Agency (DHA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) Directives, health care clinics that provide care to Department of Defense (DoD) beneficiaries are required to be accredited. The USCG seeks sources and information to support market research for an upcoming FY25 requirement. The USCG has a requirement to obtain clinic accreditation.

The government seeks external organizations approved to provide accreditation services for our outpatient clinics offering Patient Centered Medical Home and Patient Centered Dental Home Certification as part of the USCG’s Patient Centered Wellness Home (PCWH) standard. The focus is on quality and process improvement to support direct patient care. Responsible accrediting organizations must be in alignment with current Health and Human Services (HHS) standards to include the HITECH Act and HIPAA.

Responsible organizations should be able to provide these services to small government facilities and hold national recognition. The USCG requires full accreditation status lasting no less than 3 years. Performance must be available in all states and U.S. territories. When replying to this RFI/Sources Sought, firms should provide the following information:

1) Company name; System for Award Management (SAM.gov) Unique Entity Identifier; small business status to include any socio-economic categories; company address; point of contact (POC) name, email address, and phone number.

2) Do you currently provide accreditation services for ambulatory health care clinics?

3) Do you currently provide accreditation services to both the government and civilian sector?

4) Do you currently provide both Medical Home and Dental Home accreditation?

5) How many years has your firm provided these services?

6) Please provide a list of organizations your firm has provided accreditation services to, including the dates of service and a current point of contact for those organizations.

7) How much time on average does it take to prepare a clinic to achieve accreditation within your organization the first time?

8) What percentage of small primary care offices are able to achieve accreditation without the use of an outside organization?

9) Can your organization work with the USCG on pre-scheduling surveys to ensure staffing availability?

10) How does your organization measure healthcare quality?

11) Can your organization provide a copy of your current standards necessary for achieving accreditation?

12) Is your organization collaborative with their clients? If so, can you provide an example of that collaboration?

13) Does your organization have a grievance process? If so, can you please provide documentation on the process? Companies that do not provide the above information may be deemed unresponsive or not capable of providing the required services in our market research.