Rick Scott Governor Barbara Palmer Director State Office 4030 Esplanade Way Suite 380 Tallahassee Florida 32399-0950 (850) 488-4257 Fax: (850) 922-6456 Toll Free: (866) APD-CARES (866-273-2273) RFP APD 14-001 Pharmaceutical Questions and Answers May 26, 2015 Omnicare Section 3.2.17 states that the vendor is required to Provide two employees per Center to remain on-site and be available from 6:00 a.m. through 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding state holidays vendor employees must be a licensed Registered Nurse or Licensed Practical Nurse. Upon request from the Center(s), one of the two per Center employees provided by vendor shall be a Pharmacy Technician (based on Center preference and need). The language of this section is somewhat unclear. Our questions are as follows: Sunland Response 1Q) Are the Centers requiring that the vendor provide two on-site employees, both of which must either be a Registered Nurse or Licensed Practical Nurse? 1A) Yes, Unless the Center requests one of the positions to be a Pharmacy Technician. 2Q) In addition, if the Center so requests, must one of these two nursing staff also be a Pharmacy Technician or would the Pharmacy Technician be provided in place of one of the two nursing positions? 2A) The Pharmacy Technician would be provided in place of one of the nursing positions. 3Q) Finally, please provide additional detail on what the duties will be for the on-site nursing and/or pharmacy technician staff. 3A) The duties at Sunland include the following: 1) Collection and faxing medication orders to the pharmacy 2) receiving and receipting first delivery medications from the pharmacy, checking those medications making sure they are labeled as stated, in-date, and all that is ordered has been received 3) On cycle fill days, the liaison goes over each order for dating and count of product 4) Prior to the unit cycle fill, the liaison goes to the appropriate houses to make certain that adequate doses are on hand until next cycle fill start date 5) The liaison receives from unit nurses vacation notices and orders those meds from the pharmacy 6) The liaison does all returns and credits to the pharmacy. 7) After monthly drug reviews, the liaison makes treatment changes as ordered by the SAM provider. (These will appear on the following month POF/MAR) 8) The liaison orders all replacement forms as requested by nursing and insures that the fax machines and medication carts stay in good working ordering. 9) The liaison handles pick-up and delivery of urgent orders
that will come from the back-up pharmacy. 10) Handles miscellaneous duties to assist Sunland Pharmacist and Nursing staff to expedite the pharmaceutical process. Omnicare Section 3.2.17 states that the vendor is required to Provide two employees per Center to remain on-site and be available from 6:00 a.m. through 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding state holidays vendor employees must be a licensed Registered Nurse or Licensed Practical Nurse. Upon request from the Center(s), one of the two per Center employees provided by vendor shall be a Pharmacy Technician (based on Center preference and need). The language of this section is somewhat unclear. Our questions are as follows: Tacachale Response 1Q) Are the Centers requiring that the vendor provide two on-site employees, both of which must either be a Registered Nurse or Licensed Practical Nurse? 1A) Yes for Tacachale 2Q) In addition, if the Center so requests, must one of these two nursing staff also be a Pharmacy Technician or would the Pharmacy Technician be provided in place of one of the two nursing positions? 2A) N/A for Tacachale, but would be in place of if we were to ever want a pharmacy technician. 3Q) Finally, please provide additional detail on what the duties will be for the on-site nursing and/or pharmacy technician staff. 3A) In addition to the duties mentioned in Sunland s Response, at Tacachale the vendor staff perform monthly medication room inspections, provides report of med room inspections to nursing director, does research & obtains authorization for medical director s review/approval to ensure medications ordered will be paid by Medicare, assist in review of monthly invoice to ensure accurate billing (to include credits for returned medications), identifies need to provide substituted medications based on the formulary & reports these to the LIP
Service Drug Store 1Q) What is the estimated number of residents being serviced at Sunland Center? 1A) The resident census on May 1st was 319. 2Q) What is the estimated number of prescriptions processed monthly at 2A) Last month 3733 orders were filled. This includes cycle meds which repeat every 28 days, short-term orders, LOA s, and those meds that were dropped or spit out and we need them to make it to next cycle. This is about an average month for Sunland. LOA s go up during the holidays, but not excessive. 3Q) What is the estimate of weekly working hours for the 2 employees for 3A) 40 hours per week, per employee. 4Q) Is there a specific brand of emergency dispensing system preferred by 4A) First Dose 5Q) Is there a specific format of Medication Administration Record (MAR) currently used by 5A) Yes, the format would be provided to the successful vendor. 6Q) Is there a specific format of a Treatment Administration Record (TAR) currently used by 6A) Yes, the format would be provided to the successful vendor. 7Q) Will current pharmacy employees on site at Sunland Center train liaison employees in current operations or will the vendor be responsible? 7A) Sunland medical staff will train liaisons on Sunland operating procedures and processes. 8Q) Will it be acceptable that "new" ordered Medications that are not currently stocked are delivered the next day when order arrives? 8A) Refer to Section 3.2.8, 3.5.6.2, 3.5.7.2 and Attachment IV (13) of RFP #APD 14-001. 9Q) I would like to submit my Notice of Intent for your upcoming Pharmaceutical Solicitation. My business is located in Graceville, FL so we would only be able to service the Sunland Center.
I have attached this document for your review. Will this be acceptable? Also, I am interested in attending the Solicitation Conference at Sunland Center if it is still scheduled for May 7, 2015 at 10:30 am? 9A) Thanks for your Notice of Intent. This is acceptable. Filing the Notice of Intent was not mandatory per section 2.6 in the RFP. Yes the Solicitation Conference at Sunland is still scheduled for May 7, 2015 at 10:30 EST. Park Shore Pharmacon 1Q) 3.2.5 - Regarding the 28-day cycle: would Tacachale staff be open to learning about different cycling programs? We understand why the current system is in place but would like to propose other options that could provide better benefits. 1A) No 2Q) 3.2.8 - To clarify: Is Tacachale nursing staff asking for 2 deliveries per day? One delivery before 5AM and one delivery by 8:00PM? Please clarify delivery requests. 2A) Yes as stated in RFP (minimum 2 deliveries daily) 3Q) 3.2.8 - Is there any flexibility with Sunday hours of operation? 3A) No 4Q) 3.2.11, 3.2.12, 3.2.13 - Would the Tacachale staff be open to using an emar program with adequate training and set-up by pharmacy staff? 4A) An emar system would require internet access, which would not be practical at this time answer is No. 5Q) 3.2.17 - Please clarify Tacachale s request for onsite pharmacy staff (RN and registered pharmacy technician) are they requesting that these pharmacy reps be onsite M-F, every week of the year? Or are they looking to be able to request these representatives to be onsite for training purposes or general pharmacy assistance, on an as needed basis? 5A) Onsite daily, M-F, every week of the year as stated in RFP. 6Q) Please clarify total residents at Tacachale and what percentage of the residents are part of self-administration medication program. 6A) Current census (subject to change) is 395. Approximately 95% are in various stages of a self- administration medication program, which makes no difference to the service delivery of procuring pharmaceuticals.
7Q) Out of the total bed count, are all beds skilled or is a certain percentage non-skilled? 7A) Tacachale is not a skilled nursing home. We have 372 Intermediate Care Facility (ICF) beds and 45 beds outside of the ICF facilities. 8Q) Approximately how long will the conference be? 11:30am -? 8A) The conference will be approximately 1 to 2 hours. 9Q) Will this be our main opportunity to ask clarification questions on stated requirements? The Schedule of Events and Deadlines states that no comments or questions will be taken from prospective vendors, but section 2.7 states that the conference will be an opportunity to clarify RFP ambiguities. I want to make sure I m well-prepared to ask all of Park Shore s questions if this is the time to do it. 9A) No questions will be accepted at the conference (Section 2.5 of the RFP), but questions should be submitted after the conference in accordance with Section 2.8 of the RFP. 10Q) Lastly, will you be present on Monday? Or is someone else the main contact for Monday s conference? 10A) I will be present at the conference. Failure to file a protest within the time prescribed in section 120.57(3), Florida Statutes, or failure to post the bond or other security required by law within the time allowed for filing a bond shall constitute a waiver of proceedings under chapter 120, Florida Statutes.