Welcome to the Oklahoma Rise 25 and 25 RHTP podcast. In this episode, we take a deep dive into the Integrated Data and Analytics Initiative — the central, mission-critical component of Oklahoma’s Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP). The hosts walk listeners through the strategy, funding, and operational priorities behind this effort.

The conversation explains what the initiative is designed to do: transform MyHealth (the state HIE) from a passive data repository into an active decision engine. The episode outlines the $21.7 million allocation (FY2026–FY2030), the two headline targets — a 15% relative reduction in unaddressed care gaps by year five and at least 50% provider adoption of analytics tools by year five — and the statewide scope covering all 77 counties.

Listeners hear a breakdown of the initiative’s four program components: a statewide data roadmap and governance design, pilot dashboard use cases (maternal health, chronic disease, rural outcomes), procurement and deployment of analytics tools and dashboards, and the essential technical and data governance safeguards needed to protect privacy and trust. Practical pilot examples and dashboard use cases are described, including maternal RPM monitoring, smoking cessation tracking, mortality and public-health feed integration, and market-insight tools to reduce care leakage.

The episode grounds the initiative in Oklahoma’s urgent realities: extreme data fragmentation (up to 97% of rural health clinics currently disconnected), duplicate testing estimates up to 20%, seven recent rural hospital closures, and median CAH operating margins near negative 16%. It also highlights a major legal and technical challenge — Oklahoma’s opt-in consent requirement for behavioral and mental health data — and how that constraint must be solved through governance and user-centered value propositions.

We map the dependencies that make the analytics effort succeed (or fail): the $44.88M EHR expansion to generate usable structured data, the $29.21M HIE Interoperability investment to create reliable pipelines, and the larger RHTP investments (including $212M+ for clinically integrated networks) that will rely on the analytics outputs. The episode explains the phased, multi-vendor approach, the aggressive FY26–FY29 sequencing, and why early roadmap and vendor selection milestones (RFP in Q2 FY26; roadmap due Q4 FY26) are critical.

Long-term sustainability is covered in detail: how the plan intends to leverage the 90/10 Medicaid technology match and HIE subscriber revenue to maintain operations after RHDP funds wind down, and how measurable ROI — fewer duplicate tests, lower readmissions, improved prevention and care continuity — will translate into stabilized finances for rural hospitals and better patient outcomes.

Finally, the episode highlights execution risks (vendor selection and management, data quality and timing misalignment, provider adoption barriers, and consent/governance failures) and prescribes success factors: rigorous coordination with EHR and HIE timelines, representative stakeholder engagement in roadmap development, transparent governance to build trust, and user-centered dashboard design to drive adoption. The programmatic urgency is clear: early disciplined action across agencies and communities is required now to turn data connectivity into measurable rural impact by the sustainability transition in FY31. Listeners are invited to join the Oklahoma Rise 25 in 25 RHTP Task Force at Rise25in25.org or email info@rise25in25.org for more information. The Oklahoma Rise 25 and 25 RHTP Forum is produced and directed by Dr. Keley John Booth, MD.