Author: Jessica Hagins
HealthShare Upgrade
The North Carolina Health Information Exchange Authority (NC HIEA), along with our technical partner SAS Institute, is pleased to announce that an upgrade is coming to the NC HealthConnex platform in August 2024.
Why are we doing this upgrade?
The goal of this upgrade is to modernize the NC HealthConnex infrastructure to current health information exchange standards, which will result in improved system performance and a better user experience for those participants utilizing exchange services including, but not limited to, the NC HealthConnex Clinical Portal.
Some new benefits Clinical Portal users may see include an improved Clinical Summary section allowing data to be viewed in two columns, the ability to do a text search within individual chartbook pages and additional clinical sections within the patient record.
What will this mean for my practice?
This upgrade may have different considerations for your practice depending on where you are in the connection process. In order to focus fully on this upgrade, we are working diligently to complete data connections for NC HIEA participants whose data connection project is currently in progress. We appreciate your full cooperation during this time to move your connection project forward.
- Onboarding activities for NC HealthConnex data exchange services will be subject to a planned change freeze from late June 2024 to August 2024. This means that planned data integrations not completed by June 2024 will be temporarily put on hold until later in the year.
- If your connection project has not yet started, you will remain in our onboarding queue until after the upgrade is complete.
- If you are already live, meaning your practice is already submitting data to NC HealthConnex, there is no action you need to take at this time.
Please note: This upgrade process and any subsequent downtime will not impact your compliance with the HIE Act. If you have a signed and executed Participation Agreement, there is nothing more you need to do at this time.
What are the next steps?
This upgrade is scheduled to occur over a weekend in August, during which we expect downtime and delays in NC HealthConnex data exchange services. Estimated timeframes for downtime and go-live details for the upgrade will be communicated as more information becomes available.
If you have additional questions, please contact the NC HealthConnex Provider Relations team at (919) 754-6912. Thank you for your assistance in making this a smooth transition.
Tailored Care Plans Launch
NC Medicaid has announced that the four Local Management Entities (LMEs) that will run Tailored Plans are ready to go live on July 1, 2024. These entities are Alliance Health, Partners Health Management, Trillium Health Resources and Vaya Health.
With Tailored Care Management (TCM), beneficiaries have a single care manager to coordinate services across physical, prescription and behavioral health needs. Tailored Plans cover services such as mental health, severe substance use disorder, intellectual and developmental disabilities and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) needs, all in one plan.
NC HealthConnex can help TCM care managers with their goal of whole-person care management and improving care coordination. Using the NC HealthConnex Clinical Portal, TCM care managers will have access to clinical, encounter and prescription data, as well as lab results, giving them a full picture of a patient’s health so they can more effectively develop a care plan.
NC*Notify, the event notification service of NC HealthConnex, provides alerts for TCM care managers when a patient with whom they have a treatment relationship has presented at an ED, been admitted to a hospital or been transferred to another care facility. This can help coordinate more timely follow-ups with patients after a care event. The data within the Clinical Portal can also help providers meet follow-up parameters.
Using Direct Secure Messaging, providers can send messages containing PHI through a secure, encrypted email tool, allowing them to consult with specialists and other members of a patient’s multidisciplinary care team.
These tools combined can help TCM care managers in developing comprehensive health assessments, monitoring medication, arranging for annual physicals and supporting beneficiaries during care transitions or crisis events.
Some Medicaid beneficiaries have already been automatically enrolled in one of four Tailored Plans while others have the option to enroll. The Tailored Plan choice period is April 15 through May 15, 2024. During this time, beneficiaries should contact their Tailored Plan to choose a primary care provider (PCP) with their plan or one will be automatically assigned to them on May 16, 2024.
Until July 1, 2024, beneficiaries will continue receiving mental health, severe substance use, I/DD, and traumatic brain injury (TBI) services as they do today.
Resources and information to help beneficiaries know what to expect with the launch of Tailored Plans is available on the NC Medicaid website.
For additional information about Tailored Plan services, please visit medicaid.nc.gov/tailored-plans.
Employee Spotlight
Jenell Stewart Wins NEXT TECH Award
Congratulations to Jenell Stewart, assistant director, health analytics and external services for the N.C. Health Information Exchange Authority, on being recognized by the North Carolina Technology Association (NC TECH) for a NEXT TECH Award in the Tech + Innovation category.
Jenell has been a key leader in the NC HIEA's analytics program, establishing strategic direction to drive adoption of good data management practice across the enterprise. As part of NC HIEA's leadership team, Jenell oversaw the development of many tools for public health reporting for NC Medicaid, including Covid dashboards and the N.C. Stroke Registry, which aims to improve the system of stroke care across North Carolina. Her efforts have helped grow NC HealthConnex into a trusted source of health care data for providers and payers such as NC Medicaid.
Connex Kudos
“With services like NC*Notify, the entire care team can have much-needed information to keep patients safe during the riskiest times: when they transition between one care entity and another.” – Federally Qualified Health Center Participant