Are You Taking Advantage of the State-Designated Health Information Exchange?

One of the goals of a transformed health care system is for near real-time clinical and demographic data to be made available to all health care providers involved in a patient’s care so that they can securely share health information concerning that patient with each other.   

North Carolina’s state-designated health information exchange, NC HealthConnex, was created in 2015 by the North Carolina General Assembly to help bridge the gap between disparate systems and health care networks to support whole patient care. With 14 million unique patient records and growing, NC HealthConnex is working to connect the state’s health care providers to deliver a holistic view of a patient’s record. The North Carolina Health Information Exchange Authority (NC HIEA) is the agency managing the statewide health information exchange, NC HealthConnex.   

What’s the law? 

State law (NCSL 2015-241 as amended by NCSL 2017-57, NCSL 2018-41, NCSL 2020-3, and NCSL 2021-26) requires that all health care providers who receive any state funds for the provision of health care services (e.g. Medicaid, NC Health Choice, State Health Plan, etc.) connect and submit patient demographic and clinical data to NC HealthConnex in order to continue to receive payment for services. This law was updated in the most recent legislative session (NCSL 2021-26) to provide more time for connectivity for providers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This extension of time will allow the large queue of health care providers in active onboarding to complete the connection process. 

• Providers that were mandated to connect by October 1, 2021, were given a deadline extension to January 1, 2023.
• Providers with an original deadline of June 1, 2021, (ambulatory surgical centers, dentists, state lab, pharmacies, and state health care facilities), were given a deadline extension to January 1, 2023.

Note: See Gen. Stat. § 90-414.4.(e) for certain providers now designated as “voluntary” to connect.   

Important Note Regarding the Mandate: Please note that there are more than 5,000 facilities in onboarding at this time. Providers should continue to connect as we have no guarantees of additional extensions and, as noted below, the General Assembly is requiring compliance reports by March 1, 2022. Connecting to NC HealthConnex can take up 12 months, depending on the EHR software.