TDH Engagement with a Qualified Health Information Network (QHIN)

11-20-13 RFI

1

STATE OF TENNESSEE
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
FOR
TDH ENGAGEMENT WITH A QUALIF IED HEALTH INFORMATION NETWORK
(QHIN)

RFI # 34301-41526
November 3, 2025

1. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE:

The State of Tennessee, Department of Health (T DH) issues this Request for Information (“RFI”)
for the purpose of gathering information on TD H usage of the Trusted Exchange Framework and
Common Agreement (TEFCA) via establishing a re lationship directly with a Qualified Health
Information Network (QHIN). We appreciate your input and participation in this process.

Specifically, TDH is soliciting information on the following and as detailed in technical information
form:
a. QHIN experience supporting public health agencies (with and without a jurisdictional
statewide Health Information Exchange (HIE) and public health workflows including support for query of healthcare partner s during public health investigations
b. QHIN’s current and planned interoper ability capabilities and quality assurance
c. QHIN current and planned integrations, incl uding but limited to with the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Data Integration Building Blocks (DIBBS) Query
Connector tool, and the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) Informatics
Messaging Services (AIMS) platform
d. QHIN policies, practices, gov ernance, and technical requirements
e. QHIN onboarding procedures and cost model
f. QHIN policies, practices and technical expertise in adapting to individual state
confidentiality and privacy laws/regulations

2. BACKGROUND:
The Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy (ATSP) was directed by Congress in the 21st
Century Cures Act to, “in collaboration with the National Institute of Standards and Technology
and other relevant agencies within the Depart ment of Health and Human Services, for the
purpose of ensuring full network-to-network exch ange of health information, convene public-
private and public-public partnerships to build consensus and develop or support a trusted
exchange framework, including a common agreement among health information networks
nationally.” ASTP entered into the Contract with the Recognized Coordinating Entity (RCE) to
implement, maintain, and update the Common Agreement. The Common Agreement also

11-20-13 RFI

establishes the infrastructure model and governing approach to enable users in different health
information networks (HINs) to securely share information with each other—all under commonly
agreed-to expectations and regardless of which network they happen to be in. The Common
Agreement authorizes six (6) types of Exchange Pur poses (XPs), of which Public Health is one.
This permits entities that participate in TEFCA to appropriately share and request information to
and from PHAs through a secure exchange network . Public Health Authorities (PHAs) and their
delegates, to support core public health services including, but not limited to, assessing and
monitoring population health and investigati ng, treatment and diagnosing, and addressing
potential health threats and root causes. Use cases described in the Exchange (XP)
Implementation SOP: Public Health v1.1 April 25, 2025 , including Electronic Case Reporting and
Electronic Laboratory Reporting, allow PHAs to identify disease trends, track and monitor
outbreaks, and prevent and control future outbreaks.

Authorized Exchange Purposes (XPs) under the TEFCA framework include:

a. Treatment
b. Health Care Operations c. Public Health
d. Payment
e. Government Benefits Determination f. Individual Access

TDH is the primary public health agency responsi ble for statewide public health activities in
Tennessee. The department oversees eighty-ni ne rural county health departments and works
closely with six metropolitan health departments under local governance to carry out the provision
of public health services to people in Tennessee.
The TDH Office of Informatics and Analytics (OIA) is seeking to leverage TEFCA individual query
options to reduce burden, increase efficiency, and improve access to information during the investigative process initiated by receipt of a surveillance report.

3. COMMUNICATIONS:

3.1 Please submit your response and any questions to this RFI to:

Jessica Taylor, Competitive Procurement Assistant
Procurement Management Office Division of Administrative Services
Andrew Johnson Tower, 5th Floor
710 James Robertson Parkway Nashville, TN 37243
Phone: (615) 532-7560
Jessica.Lynn.Taylor@tn.gov

3.2 Please reference RFI # 34301-41526 with all communications to this RFI.

4. RFI SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

EVENT
TIME
(Central Time
Zone )
DATE
(all dates are State
business da ys)
1. RFI Issued November 3, 2025

11-20-13 RFI

2. Written “Questions & Comments”
Deadline 2:00 p.m. November 7, 2025
3. State Response to Written “Questions &
Comments” November 12, 2025
4. RFI Response Deadline 2:00 p.m. November 17, 2025

5. GENERAL INFORMATION:

5.1 Please note that responding to this RFI is not a prerequisite for responding to any future
solicitations related to this project and a res ponse to this RFI will not create any contract
rights. Responses to this RFI will become property of the State.

5.2 The information gathered during this RFI is part of an ongoing procurement. In order to
prevent an unfair advantage among potential res pondents, the RFI responses will not be
available until after the completion of evaluat ion of any responses, proposals, or bids
resulting from a Request for Qualifications, Request for Proposals, Invitation to Bid or
other procurement method. In the event that the state chooses not to go further in the
procurement process and responses are never evaluated, the responses to the procurement including the responses to the RFI, will be considered confidential by the
State.

5.3 The State will not pay for any costs associated with responding to this RFI.

6. INFORMATIONAL FORMS:
The State is requesting the following information from all interested parties. Please fill out the
following forms:
RFI #34301-41526
TECHNICAL INFORMATIONAL FORM
1. RESPONDENT LEGAL ENTITY NAME:
2. RESPONDENT CONTACT PERSON:
Name, Title:
Address:
Phone Number:
Email:

3. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF EXPERIENC E PROVIDING SIMILAR SCOPE OF
SERVICES/PRODUCTS.

4. Describe your experience working with stat e and local governmental public health authorities,
including with jurisdictions that do and do not have a single statewide HIE (may or may not
have a regional HIE), and specifically incl ude the public health use cases and related
interoperability standards suppo rted for existing partners.
5. Describe your experience with Patient Un ified Lookup System for Emergencies (PULSE).

6. Describe your experience with suppo rting direct patient authorization.

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7. Describe your QHINs query solution including bo th user interface for manual queries, as well
as any interoperability interfacin g. Describe quer y parameters, response details, timing, error
handling, and interoperability specifications used. Describe your query solution’s ability to
launch query solution from within an Electronic Health Record.

8. Describe your QHIN’s current integration with CDC’s Data Integration Building Block’s
solutions, specifically the DIBBs Query Connector.
9. Describe your QHIN’s current integration with APHL AIMS Platform.

10. Describe your experience, policies and practi ces regarding supporting both the public health
and treatment TEFCA use cases specifically with public health agencies.

11. Describe your QHINs support of electronic data exchange between clinical care and public
health, and within public health, including with CDC as well as state and local public health
authorities.

12. Describe your QHINs client onboarding proce ss including required contract documents,
connectivity requirements and implementation, and cost models, including specifically for
public health agencies.

13. Provide your QHIN’s technical platform requirements.

14. Provide your QHINs current policy regarding c harging or collecting fees for query responses,
specifically for public health agencies that submit queries and receive responses via the QHIN
(reference TEFCA SOP ).

15. Describe your QHINs governance and engagement of clients in any decision making or
governance related processes.

16. Provide your QHIN’s policy with regards to selling data.

17. Describe your QHIN’s model with regards to data repository versus flow through exchange.

18. Describe your QHINs current quality assurance program and policies.

19. Describe your implementation and release timeline.

20. Describe your client communication strategy.

21. Provide your current organizational mission, vision, and values, as well as descriptions of
current and planned priority strategic initiatives fo r the next year and the next five (5) years.

11-20-13 RFI

COST INFORMATIONAL FORM
1. Describe what pricing units you typically utilize for similar services or goods (e.g., per hour, each,
etc.:
2. Describe the typical price r ange for similar services or goods.

3. Provide estimated price range including operational staff, executive staff, and time and effort to be
fully operational.

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS
1. Please provide input on alternative approaches or additional things to consider that might benefit
the State: