Washington State Agencies Unifying on Epic Implementation

Washington state is moving ahead with an enterprise EHR solution across the Health Care Authority (HCA), the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), and the Department of Corrections (DOC). The goal is to begin onboarding system users in waves during the third quarter of 2027.

The new system supports the state’s goal for seamless services for Washingtonians by leveraging enterprise and shared solutions to use data more effectively across agencies. The Health Care Management and Coordination System (HCMACS) common EHR installation will includes shared governance, data, resources, and common workflows to maximize impact and efficiencies. 

In April, Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson signed the 2026 Supplemental Budget, provides $48.7 million for state fiscal year 2026 and $69.6 million for 2027 across the HCMACS Program and related project efforts, supported by a blend of state and Medicaid funding.

In a recent Seattle Times story, Tim Lang, the Department of Corrections secretary, said it is difficult to maintain medications and care across different agencies without a common platform. People who need urgent follow-up care at specialty clinics or outside facilities can face delayed treatment in a system where providers can’t quickly pull up records, he told the Times. 

“Our healthcare providers have developed workarounds,” Lang said, “But it’s just the ability to surface information in a way that’s just not possible in a paper system.”


As part of the HCMACS rollout, HCA will be offering Epic Connect to Apple Health (Medicaid) providers in the third quarter of 2027. HCA said this will improve coordination between providers and allow the state to provide high-quality care more effectively for Apple Health clients being served by community providers.

HCA said the HCMACS Connect Program will allow improvements in areas such as:
• Infant case management.
• Maternity support services.
• Long-term care and support services.
• Behavioral health.
• Tribal health.
• Prior authorization.
• Utilization management.

Contracted providers will have access to the HCMACS Enterprise EHR Epic platform via the HCMACS Connect Program. This model allows smaller healthcare organizations to access the full capabilities of the HCMACS Epic EHR system.

HCA said the model enables several benefits, including:
• Improved patient care through streamlined workflows.
• Enhanced data access.
• Strong interoperability with other health care systems.
• Robust reporting and analytics capabilities.
• Highly customizable solutions.
• Patient engagement features through a patient portal.
• Reduced administrative tasks by facilitating seamless data exchange between different. departments within a health care organization.

HCA noted that the extent of data sharing capabilities will vary from system to system. HCA intends to implement HCMACS Connect with identified providers in cohorts. The initial cohort will be focused on Indian healthcare providers, behavioral health and substance use disorder (SUD) providers. Additional cohorts will include rural hospitals, jails, long-term care, and crisis responders. Providers will be prioritized based on Apple Health clients supported.

The HCMACS Connect Program is currently focused on engagement with Indian healthcare providers and behavioral health providers to assess needs, identify requirements, outline readiness activities, and finalize contracts.