Healthcare Insights
Top 10 healthcare organizations issuing requests for proposals
If you sell into the healthcare market, you’ve likely run into requests for proposals (RFPs) quite frequently as part of your sales process. Definitive Healthcare tracks RFP activity from more than 15,400 healthcare organizations and government entities to provide you with the healthcare commercial intelligence required to identify new opportunities.
What is a request for proposal in healthcare?
A request for proposal is an official document that announces and outlines the specifics of a project that any hospital or other healthcare facility plans to undertake. The purpose of issuing a formal request for proposal is to solicit bids from qualified contractors and suppliers to complete the proposed project.
Healthcare organizations leverage RFPs to procure a wide range of different services, such as implementing new technology, securing surgical supplies, installing durable medical equipment, or expanding or renovating a facility. Before issuing an RFP, an organization may make a request for information (RFI) to more broadly understand a vendor’s capabilities and offerings.
Below, we’ve used data from our HospitalView product to compile a list of the top healthcare organizations ranked by number of issued RFPs.
| Rank | Organization name | # of RFPs issued | Explore dataset |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Department of Veterans Affairs (AKA Veterans Health Administration) | 6,637 | Explore |
| 2 | National Institutes of Health | 4,325 | Explore |
| 3 | Indian Health Service | 2,648 | Explore |
| 4 | Department of Health and Human Services | 1,151 | Explore |
| 5 | Food and Drug Administration | 1,126 | Explore |
| 6 | Stony Brook University Hospital | 1,087 | Explore |
| 7 | SUNY Upstate Medical University | 932 | Explore |
| 8 | Texas Health and Human Services Commission | 917 | Explore |
| 9 | Virginia Department of Health | 853 | Explore |
| 10 | West Los Angeles VA Medical Center | 781 | Explore |
Fig 1. Data is from the HospitalView product. RFP data is sourced from the System for Award Management database and proprietary research involving state, local, and healthcare entities.
Which healthcare organizations issue the most requests for proposals?
Between January 2019 and March 2024, Definitive Healthcare recorded more than 135,800 requests for proposals from a wide variety of healthcare organizations and government entities.
Unsurprisingly, governmental healthcare organizations top the list for issuing the most RFPs. Most state and federal governmental agencies are required by law to publicly solicit bids for projects or services. They do this through a public RFP process to make the process fair and to reduce costs.
The Department of Veterans Affairs issued the most RFPs during the monitored period. Other governmental organizations such as the National Institutes of Health, Indian Health Services, and the Department of Health and Human Services also top the list.
Outside of government healthcare organizations, two academic medical centers in New York also made the list of the top 10 organizations issuing the most RFPs.
Why are RFIs and RFPs important in healthcare?
RFIs and RFPs allow healthcare organizations and other entities to gather information on potential partners and vendors, making it easier to identify those best equipped to meet the unique needs of their planned project or initiative.
RFIs are typically performed early in the project planning process to gather broad information on multiple vendors’ capabilities. RFPs tend to be issued after a budget and timeline have been established for a project, with a focus on identifying a partner who can meet very specific needs.
RFPs may be followed by a request for quotation (RFQ) to obtain an itemized list of a vendor’s pricing.
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Healthcare Insights are developed with healthcare commercial intelligence from the Definitive Healthcare platform. Want even more insights? Start a free trial now and get access to the latest healthcare commercial intelligence on hospitals, physicians, and other healthcare providers.
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