The South Dakota Medical Information Exchange (SDMIX) is a statewide telephone teleconferencing network which was established to provide continuing health education programs to a variety of institutions and facilities in South Dakota. The project's success is predicated on the establishment and maintenance of inter-institutional coordination and cooperation. An institution needs to first gain internal cooperation, establish internal goals for the project, and decide upon control issues. Then, internal marketing can be developed and instituted within the parent institution. Once this has been accomplished, inter-institutional cooperation for the implementation of a teleconferencing network can begin. Such cooperation should be predicated upon establishing common goals, identifying those who can make decisions to implement the network, and effective marketing. By establishing the effective inter-institutional coordination and cooperation, the SDMIX project has been able to deliver continuing education programs relevant to the needs of the state's health care providers. (Author/LMM)