The Ecosystem

Strategic Partnerships

IRIP is a unified intelligence network. It requires deep collaboration between government authorities, academic validators, regional healthcare hosts, and enterprise technology vendors.

1

Core Government & Data Authority

Alabama Medicaid & ALOHR HIE

Primary Data Backbone

ALOHR is the technical foundation that makes IRIP possible. Alabama Medicaid provides the crucial claims data that trains the risk stratification models.

  • Bidirectional Sync: Every IRIP encounter enriches the shared ALOHR state record.
  • Data Governance: Holds a primary seat on the IRIP data governance committee.
  • Post-2030 Host: The identified permanent institutional home for IRIP operations.

Alabama Dept. of Public Health

Vital Statistics & Validation

ADPH provides the vital statistics required to determine whether IRIP's risk scores accurately predict mortality, infant mortality, and morbidity events.

  • Outcome Validation: Integrates birth and cause-of-death records.
  • HPSA Data: Anchors IRIP's rural population geographical segmentation.
  • Surveillance Context: Feeds communicable disease and behavioral risk surveys into models.
2

Academic & Research Partners

UAB Research

$1.2M Contract Evaluation Partner

UAB's School of Public Health validates IRIP's risk models against population benchmarks and conducts the formal 5-year CMS program evaluation. UAB Clinical departments provide advisory support for alert thresholds.

Auburn Univ. RHI

$400k Field Validation Partner

The Rural Health Institute serves as the field validation arm, utilizing existing relationships in the Black Belt to facilitate usability testing, provider feedback, and facility onboarding support.

Faulkner University

Clinical Workforce Partner

The College of Health Sciences contributes simulation training expertise. Their programs provide clinical training content that IRIP's workforce modules will track, serving as a pipeline for informatics recruitment.

3

Regional Hubs & Network

The 5 Regional IT Hubs

Five regional referral centers serve as the physical hosts for IRIP's IT hubs. They provide network connectivity and institutional credibility to serve rural facilities.

  • UAB Health System Central Corridor
  • Huntsville Hospital North Alabama
  • USA Health South Alabama / Mobile
  • East Alabama Health East Corridor
  • DCH Health System West / Black Belt

52+ Rural Facility Network

The ultimate beneficiaries. Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), Rural Emergency Hospitals (REHs), and FQHCs across 58 counties.

The Consumers of Intelligence

Facilities are onboarded based on closure-risk and current HIE connectivity. By Year 5, this network transforms individual expenditures into a shared-service subscription model, securing long-term viability.

4

Technology Vendor Partners

Microsoft

Azure Government for FedRAMP cloud infrastructure and Microsoft Sentinel for SIEM security operations.

Epic Systems

Open FHIR API integration for larger hub networks. Supported by Epic's state health department program.

Meditech

The most common EHR in rural CAHs. Formal partnership ensures connectivity without expensive custom development.

Mirth Connect

NextGen's open-source HL7 integration engine for legacy system translation. Proven in complex Medicaid environments.

Review the complete partnership and data governance structures in the official submission.

Download Full Technical Proposal