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COUNTY OF SAN MATEO
Inter-Departmental Correspondence
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San Mateo Medical Center
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DATE:
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November 24, 2004
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BOARD MEETING DATE:
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December 14, 2004
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SPECIAL NOTICE/HEARING:
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None
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VOTE REQUIRED:
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Majority
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TO:
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Honorable Board of Supervisors
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FROM:
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Nancy J. Steiger, Chief Executive Officer, San Mateo Medical Center
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SUBJECT:
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Agreement with The Electric Company
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Recommendation
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Adopt a resolution:
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A)
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Waiving the Request for Proposal (RFP) process
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B)
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Authorizing the execution of an Agreement with The Electric Company for provision of medical transcription to San Mateo Medical Center for the term December 1, 2004 to November 30, 2006, in an amount not to exceed $394,000
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Vision Alignment
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Commitment: Responsive, effective and collaborative government.
Goal 20: Government decisions are based on careful consideration of future impact, rather than temporary relief or immediate gain.
The Agreement contributes to this commitment by providing mandated transcription services and timely transcribed reports thereby making available accurate procedure reports for primary physicians.
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Background
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Transcription of all diagnostic procedures is required by the State Department of Health Services Title XXII and the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and is mandated by the medical staff of the hospital. Also, reimbursement to the hospital can be delayed if transcribed reports are not provided in the medical record on a timely basis. Patient care is also adversely affected if procedure reports are not charted rapidly and made available for primary physicians.
On December 2, 2003, your Board approved an amendment to the current agreement with the Electric Company to continue providing transcription services for the Radiology and Imaging Department. The Board waived the RFP process pending installation of the Siemens SMS radiology information system. The implementation of the information system was completed in 2 steps, one in May 2003 and the final installation in August 2003. This installation required complex integration of the County’s network, software, and workstations with the vendor-supplied dictation system.
In March 2004, the information Services Department and the Radiology staff jointly defined the necessary specifications to submit a Request for Proposals to other vendors. As a result of this process the decision was made to research current voice recognition systems as an alternative to the current network and workstation based method. The voice recognition technology and support systems will be included in future ISD and SMMC budgets.
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Discussion
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Until the voice recognition systems can be implemented, it is necessary to continue to contract for transcription of medical procedure reports by outside vendor. The analysis of the current system revealed it would be most cost effective to continue contracting with the Electric Company and maintain the County owned workstations and network connectivity as they are now installed than duplicate this technology with another vendor. Therefore it is in the best interest of the County to waive the RFP process and continue to contract with the Electric Company.
This two-year agreement will give ISD and SMMC the opportunity to evaluate the market for voice recognition technology and support systems and to develop a RFP for the service.
County Counsel and Risk Management have reviewed and approved this agreement.
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Fiscal Impact
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This term of the Agreement is December 1, 2004 to November 30, 2006. The maximum amount of the Agreement is $394,000.
Funds are included in San Mateo Medical Center’s FY2004-05 Adopted Budget. Funds will be included in the FY2005-06 Recommended Budget.
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