NC Health Information Exchange Authority: Open for Business
After successful transitions, ready for new connections
Since early this year, the NC Health Information Exchange Authority (NC HIEA) has been overseeing and administering North Carolina’s state-operated health information exchange. The NC HIEA has been working hard to ensure all previous/current participants are on-boarded. To date we have more than 100 data connections enabling 820 facilities—including 20 hospitals and 23 county health departments—to share patient care documents electronically.
We are now ready to accept new participation agreements, and we have a new name for the HIE Network: NC HealthConnex. The new name allows the NC HIEA to differentiate the current program from previous iterations and will provide a compelling business platform necessary to serve our current and future participants.
“The NC HIEA team and Advisory Board have made great progress in recent months, and we are enthusiastic about our new name for the HIE Network, NC HealthConnex,” said Darryl Meeks, executive director of the NC HIEA. “It represents our mission to connect health care providers to safely and securely share health information. We believe NC HealthConnex will help close current gaps in health information exchange by enabling providers to participate in a statewide community of health care neighborhoods working together to improve quality and outcomes for North Carolinians.”
Benefits of Joining NC HealthConnex
Public Health Registries: The NC HIEA and the NC Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) recently signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to allow public health data to flow through NC HealthConnex to the NC Division of Public Health.
- The North Carolina Immunization Registry (NCIR) pilot with UNC Health Care is almost complete. Upon completion, the technology will be repeatable for other participants.
- The Electronic Laboratory Reporting (ELR) team within Public Health is conducting a number of pilots and are ready to start testing NC HealthConnex as the main data conduit hub to public health.
Provider Directory: Through our partnerships with Orion and DirectTrust, NC HealthConnex and its participants will have access to a directory of up to 6,000 HISP addresses. DirectTrust is creating a nationwide directory, and the NC HealthConnex will have direct access to North Carolina DSM addresses. Any North Carolina provider can submit their DSM address to the NC HIEA for inclusion in the directory. However, only NC HealthConnex participants will be able to utilize the full directory.
Direct Secure Messaging: Additionally, participants have the ability to easily send encrypted messages between other HISP providers through Communicate Webmail. Communicate Webmail enables the secure sending and receiving of emails between entities that are members of the DirectTrust.
Additional Information: NC HealthConnex participants can receive information pertaining to patient care housed within provider organizations such as laboratory results, diagnostic studies and clinical documents. Users with the highest level of access can receive notifications about significant patient events once a patient/provider relationship is established. These include:
- Inpatient Admission
- Inpatient Discharge
- Patient is admitted to ER
- Final Laboratory Result
- Final Microbiology Result
- Final Radiology Report
Current data elements available in NC HealthConnex include:
- Allergies
- Encounters
- Immunizations
- Medications
- Problems
- Procedures
- Results
We are excited about the forward progress being made by the NC HIEA and the state-operated health information exchange, now called NC HealthConnex. To spread the word and update your networks, please feel free to include this information in your organization’s newsletters or blogs.
To inquire about participating in NC HealthConnex, contact Alice Miller at 919-754-6912 or send an email to alice.miller@nc.gov.
Business Operations Update
Advisory Board: The NC HIEA Advisory Board met on Monday, September 26, for its inaugural meeting to review operations to date, elect a chairperson and plan topics for future meetings.
“We are pleased to have had a good turnout for the first NC HIEA Advisory Board meeting held earlier this week,” said NC HIEA Executive Director Darryl Meeks. “We look forward to collaborating with this group of industry representatives to gain insight from the health care community as we develop a roadmap for the future of the NC HIEA and the HIE Network, now called NC HealthConnex.”
Work Groups: The NC HIEA is partnering with several industry associations to form work groups on subject areas such as technical, clinical and behavioral health. The first is the NCHICA HIE Taskforce that meets bi-monthly and will hold its next meeting in November. The NCHICA HIE Taskforce is an initiative that will focus on building a collaborative environment supporting the HIE and promoting transparency in activities and accomplishments on connectivity between an entity and an HIE. It is currently developing a survey in partnership with the NC HIEA to gather feedback on what services the health care community would like to see provided by NC HealthConnex in the future.
Additionally, two additional work groups are in the early stages of formation: clinical and behavioral health. If you would like more information about any of these work groups, please let us know.
Training Materials: Current NC HIEA participants who have connected to the NC HealthConnex portal will receive an email from Alice Miller on Monday, October 3, providing the NC HealthConnex Primary Provider User Manual and Welcome Packet.
Questions? Call the NC HIEA business office at 919-754-6912 or send an email to hiea@nc.gov.
About the North Carolina Health Information Exchange Authority (NC HIEA) and NC HealthConnex:
In 2015, the North Carolina General Assembly established a state-managed Health Information Exchange Authority (NC HIEA) to oversee and administer the NC Health Information Exchange Network (NCGS 90-414.7). Housed within the NC Department of Information Technology’s (DIT) Government Data Analytics Center (GDAC), the NC HIEA operates North Carolina’s statewide health information exchange--now called NC HealthConnex. NC HealthConnex is a secure, standardized electronic system in which providers can share important patient health information. The use of this system promotes the access, exchange, and analysis of health information to help improve care coordination, quality of care, and enable better health outcomes. Additionally, the legislation requires that by February 1, 2018, all Medicaid providers must be connected to the HIE in order to continue to receive payments for Medicaid services provided. By June 1, 2018, all other entities that receive state funds for the provision of health services, including local management entities/managed care organizations, also must be connected.