NC HIEA November 2022 Update

NC*Notify Helps Community Health Centers Coordinate Care Across Providers

The North Carolina Community Health Center Association (NCCHCA) has been strategically partnering with the NC HIEA to enable enhanced care management for its members’ patient population by using NC*Notify. Dr. Sanga Krupakar, NCCHCA vice president of network and analytics, recently shared with the NC HIEA team how NC*Notify, the event notification service for NC HealthConnex, has improved services for both providers and patients.

NCCHCA is a membership organization that serves 43 community health centers in North Carolina. Many of the centers’ patients rely on Medicaid funding, requiring them to connect to NC HealthConnex per the mandate by the North Carolina legislature. The NCCHCA acted as a liaison to help their member organizations sign participation agreements, complete enrollments for NC*Notify, and ensure they had the appropriate infrastructure in place to receive notifications.

“You had the legislation; you had the great partner leading this. You have a great technical partner again providing great customer service. All of these are pluses for us,” said Dr. Krupakar, who led the team that assisted the health centers with their connection to NC HealthConnex.

Dr. Krupakar explained that, although a patient may use a particular community health center as their home clinic, they may also receive care from several places, such as an urgent care, emergency department, or a specialist. NC*Notify provides real-time alerts for care events that occur across more than 9,000 connected facilities. That notification flows into the health centers’ electronic medical records and gives the care team more information on what has happened to their patients outside of clinic visits.

Without NC*Notify, Dr. Krupakar emphasized, a primary care provider would not know about outside visits unless the patient was diligent in informing the care staff on their own.

NC*Notify alerts help staff with patient education as well. For instance, if a patient is discharged with new medications, a primary care physician from the community health center can follow up and help the patient understand any instructions for taking the medication.

Full participants in NC HealthConnex have the option to receive ADT information through NC*Notify at no cost to them.

The NCCHCA aimed for its members to “truly utilize HIE for what it is and have that bidirectional participation – not just submitting but also receiving data,” said Dr. Krupakar. “As NC*Notify was being rolled out, we knew that was a great use case for us to again jump in and ensure that that’s highlighted to our members.”

Dr. Krupakar said working with Tim Taylor, lead analyst for NC*Notify, helped the NCCHCA understand the options available in the service so they could educate their member clinics.

Taylor added, “As an NC*Notify team, we consider feedback from our subscriber community a gift that allows us to refine our strategies and service offerings to support their daily operations. Partnerships like the one we have with Sanga and the NCCHCA allow us to maintain a posture of continuous improvement resulting in positive outcomes for patients across North Carolina.”

N.C. Department of Public Safety and Future N.C. Department of Adult Correction Join NC HealthConnex

The N.C. Department of Public Safety and the future N.C. Department of Adult Correction signed a participation agreement on November 1, 2022, with the N.C. Health Information Exchange Authority, expanding access to the medical records of incarcerated persons to provide enhanced continuity of care.

Health care providers at the state’s 55 correctional facilities will have a more complete view of offenders’ health records, allowing them to see their medical histories once incarcerated and share medical information with external providers after they are released.

“The NC HIEA is committed to providing this health data utility to support improving the health of all North Carolinians, and our partnership with the soon-to-be N.C. Department of Adult Correction is the next step in ensuring better, more informed care for some of the state’s most vulnerable populations,” said NC HIEA Executive Director Christie Burris. “NC HealthConnex equips providers with the records and information to understand their patients’ needs, appropriately diagnose and treat them and coordinate their care.”

Providers within Adult Corrections’ health care system often must rely on patients’ self-reported medical histories, which are difficult to verify. The efficient data access provided by NC HealthConnex is anticipated to reduce the costs of treating approximately 30,000 inmates, reduce unnecessary and duplicative testing, and reduce the burdens on clinical staff.

Dr. Gary Junker, director of health and wellness for NCDPS Prisons, established a multidisciplinary, cross-agency workgroup in 2020 to plan and prepare for the HIE integration.

“Toward that goal, we have been extremely pleased with the support that our partners from HIEA have provided in this venture,” Junker said. “Connecting access to health records will provide better health outcomes and enhance overall public health in the community.”

Adult Correction will become a separate Cabinet agency as of Jan. 1, 2023. The agreement meets a 2018 legislative mandate for correctional facilities to fully participate in the state HIE to address gaps in health care.

The new agreement was covered by online news outlets, including State Scoop and Healthcare Innovation.

NC HIEA Website Gets New Look, Same Great Content

The NC HIEA website has a new, updated layout and format. This change took place to bring the website in line with an update that applies to government websites statewide. The new layout features greater compliance with new accessibility mandates. The content found on the website remains the same. Visitors will still access FAQs, Training Resources, Monthly Updates, etc. from the usual menu headings.

What Does the Law Mandate?

The mandate for health care organizations and providers that serve state-funded patients to connect to the state-designated HIE by January 1, 2023, is fast approaching. The legislative changes enacted in the 2022 Appropriations Act may leave organizations and providers with questions about their connection status.

The N.C. Health Information Exchange Authority offers the following information to help organizations and providers understand these changes and their impacts.

• What Does the Law Mandate? for a summary of the requirements in the 2022 Appropriations Act and Statewide Health Information Exchange Act.
• Our Connection Deadline FAQs answers questions specifically related to the mandate deadline.
• Our General FAQs on NC HealthConnex gives more answers about the impacts on NC HealthConnex participants and non-participants.

You can find answers to these questions and other topics on our FAQs page.

The NC HIEA is ready to assist providers with understanding how these legislative changes affect them. Please contact us at hiea@nc.gov or 919-754-6912.

DHHS Implements Temporary Flexibilities and Program Changes for Tailored Care Management

NCDHHS is implementing temporary flexibilities and program changes for organizations providing Tailored Care Management between December 1, 2022, and March 31, 2023. This four-month period occurs between the launch of the Tailored Care Management program and the day before the start of Behavioral Health and Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities Tailored Plans. These flexibilities will give organizations time to gain experience with the model, engage eligible members, and identify and address challenges. You can read more about those updates here.

Upcoming Events

• Advisory Board Meeting - Thursday, December 8, 2022, 2 p.m. - 5 p.m. To register for this call, click here.
• How to Connect Call - Monday, December 19, 2022, 12 p.m. To register for this call, click here.
• How to Connect Call - Monday, January 30, 2023, 12 p.m. To register, click here.

In the News

No Internet, No Telehealth: Rural NC Struggles to Connect with Doctors - Across the entire state, an estimated 4 million North Carolinians don't have access to reliable broadband service. This particularly affects rural residents, many of whom live in communities that tend to suffer most from a lower supply of health professionals.

National Rural Health Day Celebrates Providers, Highlights Challenges - Across the country, federal policymakers and rural health leaders are using the designation to describe ongoing challenges and new initiatives and put a spotlight on the work they are doing. https://www.hcinnovationgroup.com/

More Data Equals More Possibilities, More Challenge - With increased use of connected devices, healthcare organizations can leverage data to improve outcomes. https://www.healthcareitnews.com/

Interoperability in Action: ONC Informs CMS Ruling on Hospital Measures for Public Health and Health Equity Reporting - a two-part series that examines how policies finalized by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in the 2023 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) final rule are advancing the use of interoperable health IT. https://www.healthit.gov/