Closed: Request for Information for Sharing of Advance Care Planning Documents

Procurement Number: 2018-MeHI-01
Date Issued: July 31, 2017
Date Due: September 15, 2017
Status: Closed

Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (“Mass Tech Collaborative”), on behalf of Massachusetts eHealth Institute, is issuing this Request for Information for Sharing of Advance Care Planning Documents (RFI No.2018-MeHI-01) (the “RFI”) to solicit responses from interested parties (“Respondents”) in the field of capturing and sharing advance care planning documents electronically.

The Massachusetts eHealth Institute (“MeHI”), a non-divisible component of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (“Mass Tech Collaborative”), in collaboration with the Executive Office of Elder Affairs (“EOEA”) and the Massachusetts Coalition on Serious Illness Care (“the Coalition”) is interested in ways to advance the Coalition’s goals of ensuring that patients’ wishes, preferences and goals of care are both documented and made accessible regardless of place of care.

This initiative is examining how technology might be used in Massachusetts to innovate ways that providers can reliably share Advance Care Planning (“ACP”) documents electronically – across systems and platforms – and improve ability of clinicians, emergency medical services, and other caregivers to quickly and reliably identify a person’s wishes and care preferences. Through this undertaking we will examine current best practices, learn what is feasible on the technology side, examine what would be the most clinically useful, and brainstorm possible technological and/or policy solutions.

As part of this process, we are issuing this Request for Information (“RFI”) for interested parties to provide information and data that will help inform development of a direction or course of action. We hope to gather specific information about architectural approaches to solving these problems and about existing technologies as well as evidence of both their efficacy and cost. We would like to hear about possible solutions to the current challenges to digitizing and sharing these documents and in ensuring that the content of ACP conversations are clearly documented and accessible across health care settings.

Through this initiative, including the information gathered in this RFI, we ultimately hope to make recommendations to the Commonwealth of a path forward toward ensuring adoption of the optimum method of electronic sharing of ACP documents, including but not limited to POLST/MOLST (“Physician’s Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment/Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment”) forms, living wills, health care proxies, and other powers of attorney.

Full details on the RFI are included in the downloadbale PDF available below.

Request for Information for Sharing of Advance Care Planning Documents

RFI No. 2018-MeHI-01

RFI Released:                                                      July 31, 2017

Questions Due:                                                  September 1, 2017

Answers to Questions Posted:                           1 week after receipt

Responses Due:                                                 September 15, 2017 (Closed)

Download Application Documents:

• RFI INFORMATION(PDF)

• QUESTION and ANSWER Document  (PDF; Uploaded 9.8.17)