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Home My WebLink AboutIR 7267 INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 7267 aTo the Mayor and Members of the City Council March 24, 1988 Subject: AGREEMENT FOR HEALTH AND FITNESS PROGRAM FOR THE FIRE DEPARTMENT The City Council initially approved a health and fitness contract for the Fire Department in 1981. Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine (T.C.O.M.) was the con- tractor until 1986 when Huguley Health Fitness Center was awarded the contract. The intent at that time was to select a contractor who could, first, meet the Fire Department's needs for several years to establish continuity; second, build a person- al history in order to effectively monitor progress; and finally, provide quality service to the Fire Department. This year, in order to be as non-biased as possible, a selection committee was estab- lished comprised of people both outside the Department and within. The evaluators represented the following organizations: Management Services; Purchasing; Fire- fighters' Association; Fire Department Health and Fitness Committee; and the Health Department. The criteria used for selection of the vendors was chosen and weighted with the goal of determining the facility that could best provide the service at a reasonable, competitive cost. A description of the criteria is attached. Informa- tion was gathered by the committee from on-site visits of the facilities, evaluating the proposals, and interviewing the vendors. The categories were scored based on the information gathered with the exception of the category dealing with price. In light of budget concerns, this category was scored more stringently, with the total amount of points going to the lowest price, no points allotted to the highest price, and the middle price being given a fraction of points equivalent to its percent ranking between the highest and lowest price. In contrast, the other categories were graded with a lesser variation in scores based upon the assessment of the committee mem- bers. The scores each facility received is also attached. The goal of the Health and Fitness Program has been to decrease the morbidity and mortality rate in the Fire Department as well as to increase each firefighter's level of performance. The following points were prime considerations in the selection of Huguley Health and Fitness Center: ° Huguley is the only facility in which all physicians are board certified in internal medicine. St. Joseph has one physician board certified in emergency medicine, and, additionally, proposed to use resident physicians in training for evaluating. T.C.O.M.'s physicians are board certified in general practice, pediatrics, and emergency medicine. ° Each facility offers a three-to-four day referral time for firefighters needing additional evaluation by a specialist. Our experience with T.C.O.M. has evidenced a longer time, while experience with Huguley has shown a one-to-two day referral time. Last year at Huguley, when questions arose about a fire- fighter's care, in many cases, the physician would get an immediate consult from a specialist with no extra cost to the firefighter. This has resulted in a dramatic decrease in the amount of time that firefighters have had to take off work, and a greater acceptance of the program because the firefighters felt they were being more accurately evaluated. ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS ---�- INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 7267 ,p.� 0,%RTipEex To the Mayor and Members of the City Council March 24, 1988 Subject: AGREEMENT FOR HEALTH AND FITNESS PROGRAM FOR THE FIRE DEPARTMENT ° The provision of data is a very important part of this contract. Each vendor has offered to provide the data in the specified format. However, in the past, T.C.O.M. has not provided this needed raw data. This factor contributed nega- tively to T.C.O.M.'s rating. ° In regard to the vendor's experience, T.C.O.M. , who currently holds the Police contract, served the Fire Department as provider of health and fitness evalua- tions from February, 1981 until February, 1986. During the evaluation year of 1985-86, there were approximately 16 formal grievances against T.C.O.M. A much higher number were verbally communicated and resolved by staff interaction with T.C.O.M. and employee. During the year Huguley Health Fitness Center was a pro- vider, there were no grievances, formal or verbal. . ° In this type of ongoing health maintenance program, much of the physicians' ability to monitor an individual's progression is dependent upon the availabil- ity of previous medical records. Huguley has been, and proposes to continue to be, very responsive in the provision of firefighters' medical records. This is in contrast with the difficulty experienced when attempting to obtain medical records from T.C.O.M. Finally, in consulting the City Attorney's office, the Department was advised that the selection of a contractor to provide health and fitness evaluations should not be made based on price alone. Attached is a copy of the opinion from the City Attor- ney's office stating that the evaluations are to be based upon "demonstrated compe- tence and qualifications of the type of professional services to be performed." Article 664-4, Texas Revision Civil Statutes, states: "the award of contract shall be made to the responsible offeror whose proposal is determined to be the most advan- tageous to the City, taking into consideration the relative importance of price and other evaluation factors set forth in the request for proposals." Staff from the Fire Department will be at the Pre-Council meeting March 24th to answer any questions City Council members may-have. In the meantime, please let me know if you need any additional information. Douglas Harman City Manager DH:sw ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS ---- Attachment IR No. 7267 i COMMITTEE COMPOSITE SCORING HEALTH AND FITNESS CONTRACTOR SELECTION EVALUATOR: FACILITY Committee Composite Scoring ST. JOSEPH HUGULEY T.C.O.M. CATEGORY 0-20% PRICE 17 0 20 [$100,750] [$110,816] [$98,750] 0-20% QUALIFICATION OF 12.6 16.2 13.2 PERSONNEL 0-10% VENDOR'S 3.3 9.6 5.3 EXPERIENCE 0-10% FACILITY 4 10 4.5 0-02% ACQUISITION OF .66 1.3 1 MEMBERSHIP BY FIREFIGHTERS 0-23% ABILITY TO 7.3 21.2 13 PROCESS PERSONNEL 0-15% RESULTS OF 8 13.6 7 MEDICAL PHYSICAL EVALUATION TOTAL 52.9 71.9 64.0 CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF VENDOR Weighted - Value 20% 1. Price: Amount Budgeted - $114,000 20% 2. Qualification of personnel A. Testing personnel ° Education ° Experience related to health and fitness evaluations B. Physicians ° Speciality ° Experience related to health and fitness evaluations ° Percent of time allocated for Fire Department testing Roll in the program C. Dietitian ° Education ° Experience related to health and fitness evaluations 10% 3. Vendors experience A. Experience with Fort Worth Fire Department B. Experience with corporate contracts ° Experience with other mandatory fitness evaluation programs 10% 4. Facility A. Parking B. Proximity of emergency equipment to testing area C. Testing area 02% 5. Acquisition of memberships by firefighters — A. Cost B. Facility location C. Description 23% b. Ability to process personnel A. Ability to provide timely referrals B. Number of firefighters that can be tested each day within a four hour period C. Testing Equipment D. Number of testing personnel 15% 7. Results of medicallphysical evaluation A. Medical examination ° Ease of interpertation ° Comprehensiveness B. Exercise prescription ° Ease of interpertation ° Comprehensiveness C. Dietary recommendation ° Ease of interpertation -. ° Comprehensiveness INTER-OFFICE CORRESPONDENCE ooku TO Joe Tarpley DATE November 12, 1987 Fire Training FROM Hugh Davis Assistant City Attorney SUBJECT Health and Fitness Training Contract Defined as a Professional Service; art . 664-4, Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat. You have asked our office's opinion as to whether a contract for health and fitness monitoring and training to be performed at a hospital facility and involving the provision of services by state-licensed health care professionals , including medical doctors, is to be construed as a contract for professional services. In our opinion, it is. Section 2 of Article 644-4 of the Texas Statutes (copy attached) defines "professional services" to include "those within the scope of the practice of. . .medicine. . .or those performed by any licensed. . .physician. . . in connection with his professional employment or practice. " There is simply no doubt that the type of diagnostic, evaluative and monitoring services called for in the contract are within the definitions above under Section 3 ; moreover, /it is mandatory that such contracts be selected and awarded, not on a competitive bid basis but upon "demonstrated competence and qualifications for the type of professional services to be performed. . .at fair and reasonable prices. . . " I hope this will satisfactorily answer your questions. Please feel free to contact our office, should you need further information. Hugh D HW:ps Attachment