The Interface

a monthly newsletter

Michigan Health Information Network Shared Services (MiHIN) is sharing an important leadership update.

After 15 years of dedicated service, Tim Pletcher, DHA, has concluded his tenure as Executive Director of MiHIN. During his leadership, Dr. Pletcher contributed to advancing MiHIN’s mission, strengthening partnerships, and supporting the continued growth of statewide health information sharing across Michigan.

“It has been one of the great privileges of my career to help build MiHIN from an early concept into a trusted statewide resource,” said Dr. Pletcher. “As I conclude my tenure, I have full confidence in MiHIN’s future and am excited to see the organization taken to the next level under the leadership of its new CEO and Executive Director.”  “On behalf of the MiHIN Board of Directors, I want to thank Tim for his steady leadership and deep commitment to this organization,” said Larry Wagenknecht, Chair of the MiHIN Board of Directors. “His vision and integrity shaped not only where we are today, but how we show up for our participants and partners every day. We are grateful for the foundation he built and the people he inspired along the way.” We thank him for his service and contributions to the organization and the broader health care community.

We are pleased to announce that Isabell M. Pacheco, DSc, FACHE, has been appointed Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of MiHIN. Dr. Pacheco has served in senior executive leadership roles with the organization since 2021, including Chief Operating Officer, Chief Administrative Officer, and, most recently, Incoming CEO and Executive Director. She brings deep institutional knowledge, a strong operational foundation, and a clear focus on advancing MiHIN’s mission in service of providers, payers, partners, and the communities we support.

“MiHIN was built on the belief that better connected information leads to better care for communities across Michigan,” said Dr. Pacheco. “I am honored to step into this role and continue working alongside our partners to strengthen collaboration, expand interoperability, and ensure our shared infrastructure meets the evolving needs of the people and organizations we serve.”

MiHIN’s Board of Directors expressed strong confidence in Dr. Pacheco’s leadership and the organization’s path forward. “Isabell brings a thoughtful, steady leadership approach and a deep understanding of both MiHIN’s operations and its mission,” said Wagenknecht. “The Board is confident in her vision and her ability to guide MiHIN through its next chapter of growth, partnership, and statewide impact.”

With this appointment, MiHIN looks ahead with confidence as the organization continues its work to strengthen interoperability, support statewide collaboration, and evolve to meet the changing needs of Michigan’s health care ecosystem.

Thank you for your continued partnership and engagement with MiHIN.

New Enhancements Now Live in MIGateway®

We’re excited to announce that new enhancements to modules within MIGateway are now live.

• Longitudinal Record Viewer (LRV), displayed as the Longitudinal Patient Record, Enhancements 

  • New Observation-Level Notes: Additional context and visibility are now available within the patient record.
  • PDF Download Now Available: Lab and observation results, as well as radiology and transcribed documents (from the Diagnostic Notes section) accessed through the LRV can now be downloaded as PDFs, making it easier to save, print, and share information within your workflows. 
  • Patient Demographics Included in Header: To support clearer documentation and clinical context, PDFs generated from the LRV will now include patient demographic information in the header. 
  • Display Issue Resolved: We have fixed an issue where certain lab values are displayed with truncated zeros. All results now appear with accurate formatting. 
    
    

• Home Patient Search with ACRS

  • Organizations may now choose to have their users search for a patient within their own ACRS Population(s) when using Home Patient Search, rather than searching MiHIN’s full enterprise Master Person Index (eMPI). This option allows organizations to align patient search behavior with their internal workflows and preferences. To apply this to your users, your organization administrator can submit a Help Desk ticket (Product Support>MIGateway Support).  

• Patient Context Enforcement (for SSO users only)

  • When SSO users launch MIGateway Home Patient Search with patient demographic details prefilled from your electronic medical record (EMR), the search fields cannot be modified. To search for a different patient, users will need to return to their EMR and relaunch MIGateway with the new patient selected. 

The User Guide on the Resource Hub has been updated to reflect these changes, and our team is always available to assist if you have questions. 

January 2026 Highlights

Patient-Centered Data Home (PCDH) Network ADTs

MiHIN participates in the Patient-Centered Data Home (PCDH) network, a national, cost-effective, and scalable framework that allows patient event notifications to be shared across state and regional lines. When a patient experiences a care event outside their “home” health information exchange (HIE), PCDH generates an episode alert confirming that clinical data is available and where it can be retrieved. This helps providers access real-time information and coordinate care across the full continuum.  

As a result of our participation:  

• Organization may begin receiving out-of-state ADTs when there is an active care relationship match. These ADTs will also be available within the TOC Viewer. This is targeted to begin February 5, 2026.  
• PCDH ADTs are non-normalized, meaning they are delivered as raw HL7 messages. PCDH does not use ADT HL7 Normalization Tables or OID Mapping documents. 
• Currently, there is no opt-out option for organizations that receive ADTs that meet the criteria for routing. 

We recommend reviewing your workflows and filters to ensure your systems and teams are prepared to receive these additional notifications.  

MIGateway Org Admin

To streamline support for organizations and their users, we are establishing an Organization Administrator (Org Admin) role in MIGateway®, as was previously had in VIPR.   

Org Admins are the primary contacts for MIGateway updates and notifications for their organization, and are the authorized representative for managing user access and account setup. 

Effective February 2, 2026, all MIGateway user access requests - such as adding new users, updating accounts, or removing access - will need to be submitted by your designated MIGateway Org Admin(s) through a Help Desk ticket. 

Updated OID Request Form  

MiHIN has updated the Object Identifier (OID) Request Form to help ensure complete and accurate submissions, reduce processing time, and prevent duplicate OIDs. OIDs play a critical role in linking shared data to the correct organization across MiHIN’s Data Exchange Solutions by validating organizational details against trusted sources such as the HL7 OID Registry, the State of Michigan’s Health System Testing Repository (HSTR), and MiHIN’s Health Directory. 

The updated form includes a new format guide, enhanced fields to better capture organizational relationships, a new ACRS Population(s) field to support business needs, and clearer identification of OID sources. 

All requesters should begin using the new form starting January 31, 2026. The updated OID Request Form is now available, and support is always available through the MiHIN Help Desk if you have questions. 

SDOH Month in MI

SDOH Month is a reminder of why this work exists in the first place: people. People with health-related social needs. Organizations working every day to meet those needs. And the coordination across sectors of care required to treat the whole person.

For all the conversations about “care coordination,” the reality is that the system as a whole is still operating in silos. Data doesn’t move easily. Communication breaks down. And when information can’t follow the person, the work falls short.

MiHIN continues to champion interoperable channels of referrals, including our work to help revise the Health Level Seven International (HL7) FHIR SDOH Clinical Care standard - now open for public comment for the first time since 2021. This updated standard allows for better co-designed communication channels to emerge and for organizations to use IT systems of their choosing. Because when systems connect, people are better supported.