Pan-Canadian Physician Resource Planning Tool

NOTICE OF PROPOSED PROCUREMENT (NPP)


Solicitation #1000174638 Closing Date: September 28, 2015     Time: 1400 hours EDST

This requirement is for the department of Health Canada.

Title: 

Pan-Canadian Physician Resource Planning Tool 

Background:  

In June 2012, the CDM directed its Committee on Health Workforce (CHW) to work with the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC) to examine ways in which to advance Recommendation #1 of the Future of Medical Education in Canada Postgraduate Project Report, to “ensure the right mix, distribution and number of physicians to meet societal needs.” The full recommendation reads as follows: 

In the context of an evolving healthcare system, the PGME system must continuously adjust its training programs to produce the right mix, distribution, and number of generalist and specialist physicians – including clinician scientists, educators, and leaders – to serve and be accountable to the Canadian population. Working in partnership with all healthcare providers and stakeholders, physicians must address the diverse health and wellness needs of individuals and communities throughout Canada.

The CDM established the PRPTF in the spring of 2013 to facilitate collaboration and coordination of pan-Canadian physician human resources planning in support of the Deputy Ministers of Health/Deans of Medicine Working Group. The PRPTF is co-chaired by a provincial CHW representative and the AFMC, and focuses on advancing: 

•	a process for addressing physician imbalances across identified specialties;
•	a pan-Canadian physician planning tool to better understand the complexities of physician supply; and,
•	accurate information to support decision-making by those considering and currently pursuing medical education, both in Canada and abroad. 

As part of the PRPTF work, a Technical Steering Committee (TSC), co-chaired by the Ontario MOHLTC and the Canadian Post-M.D. Education Registry (CAPER), was created to oversee the development of a pan-Canadian physician workforce planning tool. The TSC is comprised of health human resources planning experts from F/P/T Governments and national stakeholder organizations. During its inaugural meeting on November 8, 2013, members discussed the broad parameters of the pan-Canadian physician workforce supply modelling tool. 

In order to ensure that the deliverables are attainable within the identified time and resources, several assumptions underpin this work: 

•	The modelling tool development work will be undertaken in a staged approach, with a focus on the supply tool in 2015-16 and development and integration of a needs-based tool in a planned future phase. In this first phase of work the supply-based tool is expected to take the form of a compilation of linked data sets required to produce historical and forecasted physician supply statistics. Data will be at a disaggregated level appropriate for the parameter. Linked data sets will be anonymized and will be strictly used for the purposes of implementing the supply projection model.

•	The schematic diagram provided in Appendix A Draft Framework for Pan-Canadian Physician Resource Planning Tool should be used as a guide to the major components and flow of information needed in the model. Bidders should prepare their submissions, illustrate past experience, etc., with this diagram in mind.

The model will be inclusive of all programs/queries/scripts that produce intermediate and final physician supply outputs. Intermediate outputs will include estimates, such as medical school attrition rates and physician workforce retirement rates, which are required to produce final outputs. Final outputs of the supply tool will be confirmed as part of project consultation work, but are expected to include physician counts for each medical specialty at the national, regional, provincial and sub-provincial (e.g., regional health authority, urban/rural) levels. The programs/queries/scripts will reflect all methodologies as proposed by the Contractor based on meetings with 4-5 technical experts identified by the Project Authority, and as approved by the TSC. The Contractor will develop and present prototype outputs during the initial tool development  (November 2015 – March 2016). Final outputs, reflecting actual physician supply forecast generated by the fully-functional pan-Canadian labour supply projection model, will be delivered during the latter part of the Contract (July – September 2016). 

•	The PRPTF has agreed to focus on outputs that serve two end user groups in this first phase of work, the Deputy Ministers of Health and the Deans of Medicine. These groups are key influencers in health human resources planning and decision-making in Canada. Access to the supply projection model may be expanded in a planned future phase of work to include additional end user groups (potentially at different levels), such as university-based researchers, national stakeholder groups, learners, medical residents and the public. 

•	Information generated from the supply projection model will be shared via a restricted web-enabled user interface, which will be built and implemented within the scope of this Contract. The user interface must allow scenario planning capabilities. For example, it will allow the user to manipulate entry level undergraduate medical education class sizes, the number of positions available within each postgraduate medical education discipline, the number of international medical graduates entering training and/or the licensed physician workforce, provincial/sub-provincial physician retention and retirement rates. The final list of user defined parameters will be decided in consultation with the PRPTF and TSC.

•	The scope of this Contract is limited to the design, development and implementation of a pan-Canadian labour supply projection model with a restricted web-enabled user interface. The supply model must be developed with the assurance that it will be able to easily integrate a needs-based component in a potential future phase of work.  

•	Data sources/partners for the supply tool are as follows: 
•	Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) National Physician Database (protected)
•	AFMC/CAPER

Scope:

The objectives of the requirement are to obtain the services of a Contractor to work in collaboration with the Project Authority in the design, development and implementation of a pan-Canadian physician resource supply projection model. This tool will assist key decision makers in national health human resources planning, and, in turn, promote greater efficiencies within the healthcare system and better meet the healthcare needs of Canadians. This Contract could potentially lead to additional work in which a pan-Canadian needs-based physician resource planning tool will be developed and implemented, pending the approval of the F/P/T Conference of Deputy Ministers of Health (CDM). 

Should future work be approved by the CDM, the Project Authority may elect to exercise the option of continuing to engage the Contractor. The Contractor will develop a needs-based planning tool that will follow the broad parameters laid out by the TSC and PRPTF. These needs parameters may include factors such as future demographics, socio-economic status of the population, current physician service utilization, prevalence of disease, etc. The Contractor will also define average workloads of physician specialties and apply these to the estimated future needs to determine the number of physicians required to meet those needs.  The proposed methodology will be vetted by members of the TSC and PRPTF via webinar or other means to get feedback and consensus. The Contractor will consolidate and integrate all feedback. The Contractor will need to collect existing data; compile and link all necessary data sets; and build all of the required queries in order to develop the needs-based tool. Once the needs-based tool is completed, the Contractor will integrate it into the existing supply tool and user interface to forecast where the future physician supply will be adequate or inadequate to meet the needs of the population. A national launch will feature the formal introduction and roll-out of the comprehensive pan-Canadian physician resource planning tool and its outputs.

Estimated Value: 

The total value of any contract resulting from this RFP, from Date of Contract Award for one (1) year, shall not exceed $150,000.00, including travel and living expenses (if applicable), and excluding all applicable taxes. Based on needs, this contract may be: 

Extended, by mutual consent, for up to one (1) additional eighteen (18) months periods under the same terms and conditions, and where the total contract value may be increased up to an additional $350,000.00 excluding all applicable taxes;  

Ownership of Intellectual Property:

Canada will own Intellectual Property

Security Requirement: 

There is no security associated with this requirement.

Mandatory Requirements: 

M1. The Bidder must demonstrate its experience in developing and implementing data tools with projective modelling capability by providing examples of one or more completed projects.
M2. The Bidder must demonstrate its experience in developing and implementing interactive web-based user interfaces by providing examples of one or more completed projects.
M3. The Bidder must demonstrate its experience in gathering evidence, synthesizing information, producing technical and/or methodological reports, and making presentations. Submission must include 1 or more examples that demonstrate this experience.
M4. The Bidder must include complete resumes for each of the key resources to be used on the project.
				
Selection Methodology

Highest combined rating of technical merit (70%) and price (20%)

Enquiries regarding this Request for Proposals are to be submitted in writing to: 

Yvonne Murphy
yvonne.murphy@hc-sc.gc.ca