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How Mississippi is using data sharing & telehealth to close addiction care gaps
Using data sharing through Epic's EHR, the state is identifying and connecting high-risk patients with addiction specialists, extending care to rural communities facing provider shortages.
Mississippi's work to address substance use disorders and overdose deaths isn't complete.
The state has been working to combat the substance use disorder crisis for close to a decade, strengthening its opioid surveillance, prevention and access to care through various efforts. And it is seeing results: the number of drug overdose deaths in Mississippi decreased from its peak in 2021. But the problem persists, with 449 state residents having died from overdoses in 2025.
"The growing involvement of stimulants such as methamphetamine presents additional challenges," said Sophie Durham, opioid and substance use program director for the Mississippi State Department of Health. "Deaths are also only one measure. Nonfatal overdoses, emergency department visits and untreated substance use disorder continue to affect Mississippi families, jobs and housing."
A statewide program that leverages data sharing and telehealth aims to combat these ongoing challenges by identifying individuals at risk for the disorder early and providing accessible care.
It's built on the success of a smaller pilot program that the state health department has scaled to reach more Mississippians and close the overdose gap. The program provides state residents with access to SUD screening and connects high-risk residents with addiction specialists via telehealth.
"[The program] has helped connect patients to care, and I think it's important to frame it as each intervention, each interaction with a patient, is an opportunity to save a life potentially," said Durham.
Following the successful pilot in six counties, the program has now been expanded statewide to all 82 counties. Three factors drove the expansion: the demand for services, the state's rural healthcare challenges, and the existing telehealth infrastructure, Durham said.
SUD program aims to detect risk, expand access to care
The state health department created the program to extend its small care team of four physicians and 18 advanced practice providers.
"We built the model on two assets MSDH already had: a county health department in nearly every county, and one EHR, Epic, used across all of them," Durham said.
People can be referred for an SUD screening from various care settings, including physician practices, residential programs and emergency departments, Durham shared. People can also be identified through the universal screening program at Mississippi's county health departments.
Once a person is identified as at risk for SUD, the program's navigator team, which consists of a nurse and social workers, completes an American Society of Addiction Medicine-based assessment to determine the appropriate level of care the patient needs, according to Durham.
While low-risk patients receive positive reinforcement, high-risk patients are scheduled for a virtual visit with an addiction specialist. The video visit occurs through ExtendedCare, a telehealth platform integrated with Epic.
High-risk patients participate in the virtual visit at the county health department closest to their home, Durham said. They can also receive prescriptions by mail from a closed-door pharmacy, which is a specialized facility not open to the general public.
Following the virtual visit, the state health department's physicians, pharmacists, nurses and social workers work together to coordinate follow-up care for patients who need it.
"For those patients that might complete a virtual visit and need a higher level of care, the clinician that's seeing the patient is able to quickly communicate with the navigator that is helping this patient throughout the healthcare system with their continuity of care, which helps to facilitate that warm handoff," Durham said.
That warm handoff, rather than just giving the patient a phone number, is one way the health department ensures people do not fall through the cracks. Further, the navigators provide ongoing support, helping patients reschedule missed appointments and connecting them with transportation, housing and other social services that affect whether someone stays in treatment, Durham shared.
Data sharing advances program goals across the state
The health department is using its Epic EHR to facilitate the risk screenings and virtual visits for high-risk patients, enabling the data sharing that supports both aspects of the program.
"The initial intake and assessment might happen in a number of different venues, and then that information needs to be able to flow cleanly through to the outreach work queues and all of that," said Trevor Berceau, director of research and development at Epic.
Berceau noted that Epic provides a range of options for sharing data, including its Care Everywhere and Share Everywhere features built into the Epic EHR and MyChart patient portal, Epic on FHIR resource for developers who create healthcare apps and nationwide interoperability frameworks like TEFCA.
According to Durham, the Mississippi health department's clinical teams are using Epic to access data about the risk screenings occurring at county health departments, including the number of patients who complete the screenings and the score they receive that indicates where they fall on the SUD risk scale.
They are also using the Epic platform to track the number of referrals made and the number of visits completed, connecting that data to overdose numbers across the state to better target the program.
Further, the Mississippi health department's clinical teams use Epic to communicate with one another and coordinate follow-up care, Durham said.
Through Epic, the state health department is also able to connect with the University of Mississippi Medical Center. MSDH became the first partner in UMMC Epic Connect in 2018, which means the academic medical center and county health clinics operate in the same Epic environment, Durham explained.
Care teams from each organization can share medical records, which include screening results, referrals, assessments, visit notes and treatment plans, allowing patients to move from one care setting without losing vital information and having to start their care journey over, she said.
Program could boost SUD care in other states
Results from the program show that technology can enhance SUD detection and follow-up care, making it ripe for adoption by other states battling the SUD crisis.
So far, the program has shown high retention rates, Durham said, with six-month follow-ups revealing reductions in opioid use. As of October 2026, the program had 1,403 cumulative enrollments and 863 active patients. Program results also show improvements in mental health conditions, she said.
Not only that, but the program has enabled the state health department to extend its workforce to address the physical and mental health needs of SUD patients, Durham said. In Mississippi, as in many rural states, provider shortages hamper access to adequate SUD care. State data shows that there are only four SUD treatment providers per 100,000 people in Mississippi, compared to the national average of seven, and as a result, an estimated 80% of individuals with SUD do not receive adequate treatment.
"With limited resources and a limited number of providers, this [program] really has been a way to increase our footprint as well to reach more patients," she said.
Given these promising results and the fact that Epic is already widely used across the country, Durham believes the program can and should be implemented in other states.
"I absolutely am an advocate for this program," she said. "I think that it has helped connect patients to care…I think that especially connecting those rural communities with a provider when we know that there are shortages in healthcare providers and particularly mental healthcare providers has really been a tremendous improvement in access to care in Mississippi."
Anuja Vaidya has covered the healthcare industry since 2012. She currently covers healthcare IT and innovation, including artificial intelligence, digital healthcare, EHRs and interoperability.
