Statewide Health Information Exchange/Health Data Utility (HIE/HDU)

The State RHTP is working to make health information sharing safer, faster, and more useful for all Mississippians, including patients, families, caregivers, healthcare providers and care teams, and health insurers (e.g., payers). Mississippi has secured $205 million for the first budget period of the five-year grant. With RHTP funds, Mississippi will develop a comprehensive statewide Health Information Exchange (HIE) network, allowing for bi-directional sharing of patient records (inclusive of imaging) and facilitating coordination of transfers, sites of care selection and care coordination efforts. The State currently has no statewide HIE Contractor or service similar in size or scope of this RFP. While there is substantial presence of common Electronic Health Records (EHRs) among Mississippi healthcare providers, (i.e., Epic, AthenaHealth, etc.) there is no real-time exchange and interoperability of health information across such disparate systems that supports timely access to information for rural providers and emergency response teams, among many others. Mississippi healthcare providers and residents routinely engage in care delivery and treatment activities that extend beyond the state's borders. Many Mississippi patients receive services from regional healthcare organizations headquartered in neighboring states, including Ochsner Health in Louisiana and Baptist Memorial Health Care in Tennessee, both of which maintain provider networks and care delivery operations serving Mississippi residents. As a result, the HIE must support exchange across state lines to facilitate care coordination, transitions of care, public health reporting, and continuity of treatment for Mississippi residents. The Contractor shall demonstrate its ability to support interoperability with healthcare organizations, HIEs, health systems, and national exchange frameworks that enable the bi-directional exchange of health information between Mississippi providers and providers located in other states. Special consideration should be given to interoperability approaches that facilitate information exchange with healthcare organizations serving significant numbers of Mississippi residents in neighboring states. While Epic holds approximately 70 percent of the Mississippi market, most instances are hosted through partnerships which can limit local decision making and interoperability priorities. Physician affiliation patterns further shape Mississippi's exchange environment. Approximately 60 percent of the State's physician workforce is directly affiliated with a hospital, which often consolidates back-office EHR functions, contracting, technical decision-making, and data exchange participation under hospital or health system branding. As a result, provider onboarding, identity management, consent, data governance, and implementation planning may need to occur at both the individual provider level and the hospital or health system enterprise level. The MSDH publishes a complete health facility directory at Health and Care Facilities - Mississippi State Department of Health . Table A-3 includes a summary of facilities by type from the MSDH directory posted on September 18, 2026. This list does not include Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs). FQHCs are supported locally by the Community Health Center Association of Mississippi (CHCAM). Mississippi has 21 Community Health Center organizations operating approximately 240 sites, providing care to over 300,000 patients annually. Given this environment, MSDH is seeking a Vendor that can support secure, bidirectional health information exchange across hospitals, practices, payers, public health entities, and other authorized stakeholders. The Vendor's operating model should be flexible enough to integrate independent providers, hospital-affiliated practices, large health systems, public health programs, and out-of-state host organizations that support care delivery for Mississippi residents.