FAQs for Pharmacy Participants
The N.C. Health Information Exchange Authority is providing information for pharmacies regarding connecting to and using NC HealthConnex. This is also helpful for other providers looking to find pharmacy data within NC HealthConnex. This information is accurate to the best of our knowledge. Health care organizations and providers should continue to monitor changes to relevant laws implemented by the N.C. General Assembly, which supersede any information from the NC HIEA.
Last updated Nov. 12, 2025
State law requires that pharmacies registered with the North Carolina Board of Pharmacy be connected to the HIE Network and begin submitting claims data by January 1, 2023. If you are unsure whether your pharmacy is registered, you can contact the N.C. Board of Pharmacy.
The HIE Act has a requirement that as a condition of receiving state funds, pharmacies are to submit, at a minimum, claims data for all services for patients in Medicaid, State Health Plan and other state-funded health care programs. Pharmacies may also submit more data from patient records to help improve the overall quality and comprehensiveness of medical data in the state HIE network.
The NC HIEA has already begun integrating pharmacy claims data with the clinical records in the statewide HIE. This effort is one of the first of its kind nationally to aggregate dispense data with clinical data to provide a more complete health record for North Carolinians at the point of care. Both large retail pharmacies and smaller independent pharmacies are participating in the pilot. The NC HIEA worked collaboratively with pharmacy stakeholders and the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP) to develop technical specifications that will be utilized and finalized in the pilot projects.
The NC HIEA views pharmacies that have signed participation agreements as acting in good faith to meet the January 1, 2023, deadline. For more information, please see What Does the Law Mandate or read our Connection Deadline FAQs.
Now that we have completed onboarding our current pilot participants, we will begin connecting pharmacies in the queue. We will reach out to your organization via email when we are ready to begin your connections. You can read more about the process on our pharmacy resources page.
Yes, pharmacy data is available in the NC HealthConnex Clinical Portal. Details on where to find pharmacy data starts on page 43 of the Clinical Portal User Guide.
Participants should comply with filtering data per the NC Health Information Exchange Authority Behavioral Health Sensitive Data Policy and as per their Participation Agreement with the N.C. Health Information Exchange Authority.
In addition, pharmacies should filter out any veterinary prescription/medication information prior to sending data to NC HealthConnex.
Yes, both of these types of prescription data should be sent to NC HealthConnex if they are available.
The format is a flat file, with more details on formatting requirements available in the Pharmacy Claims Onboarding Packet Appendix 2.
Please submit medication data within 24 hours of the dispensed event in the specified file format as required by NC HealthConnex. If this timing is challenging due to constraints within your system, please provide details in the NC HealthConnex Pharmacy Scoping Checklist during your onboarding. The Scoping Checklist will be sent you when you are ready to begin the intake process.
The file specifications are available in our Pharmacy Onboarding and Technical Specifications Guide.
NC HealthConnex requests a file be sent daily, even if no medication data qualifies for the data submission. An empty file should be sent if there is no data available. See the Pharmacy Claims Onboarding Packet Appendix 2 for more details. If this timing is challenging due to constraints within your system, please provide details in the NC HealthConnex Pharmacy Scoping Checklist during your onboarding.