GSA to create health IT SIN on Schedule 70

The General Services Administration is adding a new special item number to the IT Schedule 70 for health IT services.

GSA officials found there was a need for solutions associated with specific technology products and services required to comply with various regulations and laws, such as the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act and the Affordable Care Act, for example.

With the new SIN, GSA officials are enhancing the health IT standards to help agencies streamline operations with innovative healthcare networks and various health information exchanges. They also want to improve the sharing and using of data for analytics and decision-making.

“Achieving those objectives will improve healthcare outcomes, increase quality of care, more effectively manage population health, as well as reduce healthcare costs across the nation,” GSA wrote in its announcement.

GSA described the benefits as consolidating health IT services into a single point, improving customer access to services, providing value-add to customers, and driving visibility into health IT sales.

The health IT solutions may include specific technologies to deliver healthcare services, manage healthcare information, and secure healthcare data. In addition, GSA expects to increase the interaction and exchange of information between doctors, patients, payers and service providers.

To ensure efficient processes for vendors and stakeholders, GSA IT Schedule 70 will work closely with industry and agencies while finishing the details of the new Health IT SIN.

GSA is asking for feedback from agencies about how they buy health IT services and if they expect the new SIN to create more transparency from the new SIN.

GSA released the request for information Jan. 20. Responses are due by Jan. 29.