The N.C. Health Information Exchange Authority became operational in early 2016, just a few months after its parent agency, the N.C. Department of Information Technology, was founded in late 2015. This year marks a decade of progress and partnership with health care providers across the state and beyond.
This timeline highlights some of the organization’s most significant accomplishments over the last 10 years. The NC HIEA is proud to continue expanding services and furthering the future of health data exchange and use in North Carolina to improve health care quality and outcomes of our residents.
2015: The Beginnings
N.C.G.S. 90-414, Article 29B: The North Carolina General Assembly created the North Carolina Health Information Exchange Authority (NC HIEA) in 2015 to facilitate the creation of a modernized health information exchange to better serve North Carolina’s health care providers and their patients. That system became known as NC HealthConnex.
2016: Data Connections
Operations began in early 2016 with a focus on connecting providers to NC HealthConnex. Nine months later, the NC HIEA had completed 122 connections for more than 800 facilities, one of the fastest HIEs to gain connections in the country.
2017: Expansion
By September 2017, the NC HIEA had signed 89% of the hospitals and health systems, 87% of the state’s county health departments and 100% of the state’s Federally Qualified Health Centers as well as many primary care providers and a growing number of specialists.
The NC HIEA launched the NC HealthConnex Provider Clinical Portal, a web-based tool for accessing clinical data within NC HealthConnex and giving providers a more complete picture of a patient’s health record.
2018-2019: Alerts and Awards
September 2018 marked the launch of NC*Notify, the event notification service of NC HealthConnex. The service provides admission, discharge and transfer (ADT) alerts to providers on patients they choose to monitor.
The NC HIEA won a community partnership award for its work to connect neighboring state HIEs within a 48-hour window as Hurricane Florence approached North Carolina. These bidirectional connections were made via the national eHealth Exchange Network to assist displaced patients.
2020: The Covid-19 Pandemic & Data Solutions
The NC HIEA and N.C. Government Data Analytics Center supported the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services’ pandemic response, linking COVID-19 labs with vaccines and creating data-driven dashboards for NC Medicaid to understand the trajectory of the disease within their vulnerable populations.
2021: Enhanced Prescription Safety
The NC HIEA made it possible for users to access the Controlled Substance Reporting System (CSRS) directly within the NC HealthConnex Clinical Portal, giving them the ability to fulfill requirements of the STOP Act requiring providers to verify patients’ prescription histories.
2022-2023: Advancing Population and Maternity Health Insights
The NC HIEA and the N.C. Division of Public Health began work on a new population health tool, the Stroke Registry Dashboard, which now helps track prevalence and incidence of stroke across North Carolina counties. The dashboard leverages demographic and clinical data on stroke patients that is received by NC HealthConnex to improve the stroke care continuum. It was announced in February 2023.
In September 2023, six maternal health care facilities went live to receive Maternal Health Alerts powered by NC*Notify. The six facilities are participants in the ACURE4Moms study that seeks to improve health outcomes for Black mothers and infants. The NC HIEA provides data exchange and alerts for the study. The facilities can receive alerts when a patient has a risk factor for low birthweight, including any physical, mental or social risk factors related to the study.
2024: Leadership Transition & Emergency Response Support
Sam Thompson took over as executive director of the NC HIEA. Thompson formerly served as the deputy director of program evaluation at NC Medicaid.
The NC HealthConnex Clinical Portal helped providers access critical clinical information such as medical history, medications and treatment plans for patients in North Carolina displaced by Hurricane Helene. This access was essential to assist organizations affected by lack of access to their regular facilities in providing continuity of care to their patients and to patients coming from affected communities. 92 new user accounts for the NC HealthConnex Clinical Portal were added.
NC HIEA identified the location of medically vulnerable and missing persons after Helene based on clinical visits, providing timely and actionable information about the well-being of these populations. The NC HIEA queried clinical data for nearly 27,500 individuals to search for health care encounters.
2025-Present: Strategic Growth & Future Ready Data Infrastructure
The first medical claims data became visible in the NC HealthConnex Clinical Portal in October 2025. This initial claims data came from NC Medicaid.
In 2025, the NC HIEA released the Roadmap 2030, a strategic document outlining its five-year plan. In 2026, the first report will be released, outlining the progress the organization has made so far.
The NC HIEA is currently seeking status as a health data utility and completed an assessment on its readiness towards that goal