State of Iowa Replaces Statewide HIE Operator

As it begins work in the Rural Health Transformation program, the state of Iowa has selected a new organization, Converge Health Iowa (CHI), to operate its health information exchange following a competitive RFP process earlier this year. The HIE’s former operator, CyncHealth, also runs the HIE in Nebraska. 

Iowa Health & Human Services noted that it is required by law to conduct a competitive process to select the state’s HIE vendor at least every eight years To maintain compliance with this law, Iowa HHS was required to complete competitive selection in 2025.

CHI said that as it assumes responsibility for the statewide exchange, its immediate focus is stabilizing services, restoring secure data access, and establishing a modern foundation for long-term interoperability across Iowa’s healthcare ecosystem.

“Our team is working directly with healthcare organizations across Iowa to restore connections, clarify next steps, and ensure that continuity of care remains the top priority. Behind every data feed is a patient and a provider who depends on it,” said Laura Young, executive director of Converge Health Iowa, in a statement. "Leading the HIE allows us to build a data infrastructure that does more than move information, but focuses on use cases that improve the lives of Iowans, particularly in our rural and underserved communities.”

Young was most recently executive director of San Diego Health Connect, and also served as executive director of healtheConnect Alaska.

As part of this next phase of Iowa’s HIE, Converge Health Iowa is partnering with Orion Health to deploy a platform designed to support secure, scalable data exchange. The new platform is being implemented to support expanded interoperability, rural connectivity, behavioral health integration, and whole-person care use cases over time.

As part of the Rural Health Transformation grant, HIE services are a project within the Healthy Hometowns program. The HIE initiative in Healthy Hometowns supports the infrastructure and current functionality of HIE in Iowa as well as expanding to include additional provider types, additional services and functionality to ensure data is available to best serve Iowans where they live and seek care To achieve the vision and goals of Healthy Hometowns, Iowa HSS said it need full participation from hospitals and providers in sending data to the HIE.

This year Larra Petersen-Lukenda has assumed the role of interim CEO of Omaha-based CyncHealth. Jaime Bland stepped down as CEO at the end of December 2025 to lead Aquila, a new AI infrastructure company focused on fixing one of public health's longest-standing problems: fragmented data systems. Aquila will use machine learning to normalize and validate fragmented clinical, public health, and population data with the goal of creating a secure and interoperable system that supports large-scale analytics and operational decision-making.