DescriptionSPECIAL NOTICE TO: Software Developers: Web Service Beta Test -- THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION, NO CONTRACT WILL BE ISSUED--- I. Introduction: The Social Security Administration (SSA) is pleased to announce that, in the fall of 2006, the Electronic Medical Evidence (EME) website will beta test a web service for uploading medical evidence files to SSA/Disability Determination Services (DDSs). This is part of SSA’s ongoing effort to fully process disability claims electronically. SSA will test the web services provided on the EME website within a distributed, service-oriented architecture. As a result, SSA is interested in having copy service who can create an electronic image according to SSA specifications (please see below for SSA’s Image File Format Requirements, II.B) from paper medical evidence electronically, participate in this web service Beta test. The beta test is structured to use the "consolidator" model, where the participating company serves as a conduit to gather, prepare and scan medical evidence for their customer base, e.g., medical providers, hospitals, etc., and create electronic images that can be electronically transmitted to SSA according to our needs. For example, the first page of the electronic image must contain a copy of the original DDS generated coversheet which includes SSA’s 2-D barcode. As part of the beta test, the company that participates will not be required to send paper copies of the medical evidence to the appropriate requesting DDS office, i.e., saving can be attributed by eliminating the need to print paper copies of the medical evidence and postage to return the paper copies of the DDS. II. TECHNICAL INFORMATION: A. Web Service: The EME web service is a J2EE application which uses SOAP and WSDL specifications. The secure offering adheres to Version 1.0 of the Web Services-Interoperability Organization (WS-I) Basic Profile. SOAP message integrity is ensured by following Web Services Security Version 1.0 standards. Because of this approach to standardization, Consolidator companies can program in their environment of choice (e.g., Java, Visual Studio .NET, Perl) to invoke the service and feel confident that their message payload is not compromised upon delivery to SSA. The EME submission service will accept files in the Document Management Architecture (DMA) format as input. Files may be attached to the message using SOAP with Attachments (SwA) or Direct Internet Message Exchange (DIME). Throughout 2006, SSA will be finalizing this EME web service offering and allowing companies to participate in planned alpha tests in October of this year. The Web Services Description Language (WSDL) required to invoke the service will be made available to the public in the middle of May with a developer’s guide to follow shortly thereafter. Participating companies will need to register with EME to obtain a Web Service PIN and are prepared to support the beta test period, but we are not ready to do this registration at this time. Tentative key dates for the web service pilot are: • Alpha Testing start date: 07/03/06 • Full Validation start date: 08/01/06 • Integration Testing start date: 09/10/06 • Beta Testing release date: 10/23/06. B. Image File Format Requirements Each TIFF file within a ZIP file should follow these specifications: 1. One TIF file per patient with the request letter on the first page 2. TIFF version 6 3. Intel format (little-endian byte order) 4. CCITT Group 4 Compression 5. Black & White color (Bitonal) 6. 200x200 dots per inch (DPI) resolution TIFF files must first be packaged in specific groups of up to 64 TIFF files, and one XML file constructed to describe the group and from one to 64 TIFF files in the group. The appropriate TIFF files and the one XML file are packaged into a single ZIP file and made available to SSA as the single ZIP file. III. SELECTION CRITERIA FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE BETA TEST OF THE WEB SERVICE: 1. Have the capability to scan medical evidence and create an electronic image, according to SSA’s standards, of the scanned medical evidence. 2. Ensure SSA’s 2-D barcode coversheets is the first page within the electronic image. 3. Ability to modify your current business process so you can start alpha testing with SSA on July 3, 2006. 4. Guarantee SSA that 1,000 images, at a minimum, can be transmitted to SSA electronically each month of the pilot. 5. Provide development services for your client portion of the web services and ensure that all developmental efforts will be completed by the Alpha Testing start date. This is NOT a request for proposal and the Government does not intend to pay for information submitted. If your company is interested in discussing participation in this web service beta test, please send an email to
[email protected] by Monday, May 1, 2006 and you will be included in a teleconference that is planned for Wednesday, May 10, 2006 at 2 pm eastern time to discuss any questions that you may have. In addition prior to the teleconference you will be expected to sign a participation agreement. Reference SSA EME Web Service Beta Test 2006 in the subject field of your email and include the following information. 1. Contact name, mailing address, phone number and email address. 2. Management name, mailing address, phone number and email address. 3. Company Website Address. 4. Number of images that can be transmitted to SSA on a monthly basis. 5. Preferred method of transmission.