COST SURVEY OF MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT FOR CHILDREN

Release Date:  April 16, 1999

SOURCES SOUGHT AVAILABLE:  NIMH-99-SS-0004

P.T.

National Institute of Mental Health

This Sources Sought Notice (SS) is for planning purposes only and shall not be
construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the National
Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).  The purpose of this SS is to identify
potential sources that may be interested in and capable of performing the work
described herein.  NIMH welcomes Corporate Capability Statements (CCS) from all
individuals and organizations.  The NIMH does not intend to award a contract on
the basis of responses nor otherwise pay for the preparation of any information
submitted or NIMHs use of such information.  Acknowledgement of receipt of
responses will not be made, nor will respondents be notified of the NIMHs
evaluation of the information received.  As a result of this SS, the NIMH may
issue a Request for Proposals (RFP).  However, should such a requirement fail to
materialize, no basis for claims against the NIMH shall arise as a result of a
response to the SS.  In the event an RFP is to be issued, Standard Industrial
Classification (SIC) code 8732 will apply to Commercial concerns and 8733 will
apply to Non-commercial concerns.

Sources Sought

NIMH intends to award a single contract with multiple scientific and
administrative components to conduct a cost survey of children and adolescents
who are high users of mental health services, to develop sophisticated research
design to answer policy relevant questions, and to conduct data analyses.  The
survey should have the capacity to generalize to the national population and
collect and analyze data relevant to answer the research questions outlined
below:

1. What are the costs of mental health services for youth in inpatient,
residential, partial care (IRP) and intensive outpatient treatment (ages 4-17). 
How do costs vary by sociodemographic groups?  How do costs vary by type of
mental disorder?

2. How do financing arrangements and insurance benefits influence the use of
services and the costs of care? 

3. What kinds of treatment services are delivered to children in these treatment
settings and what is the quality of those services?

4. What mental disorders do children have in these settings?

According to preliminary estimates, approximately 1,500 children who are high
users of mental health services will need to be selected from approximately 800
inpatient, residential and partial care treatment settings.  No preliminary
estimates are available concerning the sample size of the intensive outpatient
survey sample.

It is planned that this study will have three major survey components:

1. Survey of children who are high users of mental health services (and their
parent/guardian) treated in inpatient, residential and partial treatment
settings,

2. Survey of similar children (and their parent/guardian) treated in outpatient
settings, and

3. Insurance followback survey to obtain health insurance information for the
child from the insuring private company or public program.

The NIMH envisions that the methodology of the contract should pay considerable
attention to:

a.  Sampling of youth from different mental health service settings,

b.  Existing instruments that could be used for collecting cost data, data on use
of services, quality of care, type of mental health problem and insurance
coverage,

c.  Collecting survey data on children and adolescents and their parent/guardian
and data processing,

d.  Developing research design in order to answer Questions 1 through 4 outlined
above,

e.  Conducting data analyses to provide empirical answers for Questions 1 and 
4.

Interested organizations should submit a CCS of no more than 10 pages that
details the ability to perform the aspects of the effort described above.  All
proprietary information should be marked as such.

All respondents are asked to indicate the type and size of your business
organization, e.g., Large Business, Small Business, Small Disadvantaged Business,
Women-Owned-Business, 8(a), Historically Black College or University/Minority
Institution (HBCU/MI), educational institution, profit/non-profit hospital, or
other nonprofit organization, in their response.

INQUIRIES

Responses should be identified with NIMH-99-SS-0004 and are due by 3:30 p.m.,
Friday, April 16, 1999.  Facsimile responses (as long as they do not exceed 10
pages in length) and email responses will also be accepted.  Please submit three
copies of your response to the attention of:

Patricia L. Gibbons
Contracts Management Branch
National Institute of Mental Health
6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 6107 MSC 9603
Bethesda,  MD  20892-9603
Telephone:  (301) 443-2696
FAX:  (301) 443-0501
Email:  pgibobns@mail.nih.gov

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