NC HealthConnex Participation Agreement

NC HIEA's participation agreement requests that electronic health records are minimally capable of sending HL7 messages, version 2 and higher. The first step is to have the ability to send HL7 messages (version 2.0 and higher) to enable a technical connection and data submission to NC HealthConnex. EHR products that are ONC certified for meaningful use for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Incentive Programs are preferred.   

Even if you do not have an EHR or your EHR isn’t capable of submitting data, please leave the EHR section blank on your agreement, and reach out to our team at HIEA@nc.gov.

For more on the technical requirements, see the NC HealthConnex Onboarding Packet and Technical Specifications. 

Each new facility is required to sign a participation agreement governing its connection to NC HealthConnex. At this time and for the foreseeable future, there are no fees to connect and use HIE services. Please review the following descriptions of the participation agreement descriptions to select the agreement appropriate for your organization and use.

Traditional Health Care Providers and Parent Entities

• The main full participation agreement, aligned with the Data Use and Reciprocal Support Agreement, allows providers full use of NC HealthConnex and enables compliance with the N.C. Statewide Health Information Exchange Act. 
• The submission-only participation agreement enables a provider to submit the clinical and demographic data required by law in a one-way technical connection to comply with the N.C. Statewide Health Information Exchange Act. This agreement prohibits all other data exchange services, including HIE query/data exchange and clinical registries. Submission-only participants must work with their EHR vendor to filter data on state-funded populations.

Pharmacies

• The full participation agreement for pharmacies allows pharmacy providers full use of NC HealthConnex, including electronic exchange of vaccine information. It also enables compliance with claims data connection and data submission provisions in the Statewide Health Information Exchange Act.
• The submission-only participation agreement for pharmacies enables a pharmacy to submit the claims data required by law in a one-way technical connection for compliance with the Statewide Health Information Exchange Act. This agreement prohibits all other data exchange services, including HIE query/data exchange and clinical registries. Submission-only participants must work with their EHR vendor to filter data to state-funded populations.

Health Plans, Prepaid Health Plans, Local Management Entities and Managed Care Organizations

• The full participation agreement for health plans, PHPs, LMEs and MCOs allows clinical and demographic data access via data extracts or FHIR queries with use-case agreement and minimum necessary standard per HIPAA. This agreement also enables compliance with the encounter data connection and data submission provisions in the Statewide Health Information Exchange Act.

Read and review the entire NC HIEA participation agreement with your legal department, contract administrator and other authorized staff members. Please read the instructions carefully. Missing or inaccurate information will delay processing of your agreement. If you have already signed a previous participation agreement with the NC HIEA, signing and executing a new document will replace and supersede any previous participation agreements.

Business Associate Agreement

In attachment 5 on page 36 of the full participation agreement, health care providers should review the business associate agreement, and include the legal entity name of the provider or facility next to “name of participant.” Sign on page 39 under “Covered Entity.”

Notices

In attachment 1 on page 29 of the full participation agreement, please provide the contact information for your organization where you will receive formal notices from NC HIEA.

Participant Staff Contact Information

Identify three points of contact within your medical practice who will collaborate with the NC HIEA and our technology partner, SAS Institute, to complete a successful connection.

These contacts will act as your participant account administrator, contract administrator and technical resource. The participant account administrator will serve as your health care facility’s primary point of contact. The contract administrator will act as your legal contact, and the technical resource will be your chief information officer or other technical support contact.

In attachment 2 on page 30 of the full participation agreement, provide the name and contact information for your participant account administrator, contract administrator and technical services contact where indicated. If one person fulfills multiple roles, please indicate so on the form.

Participating Entities

In attachment 4 on pages 34 and 35 of the full participation agreement, identify your participating entities, if applicable. See section 2.37 of the full participation agreement for the definition of a participating entity.

NC HIEA participants shall abide by all policies and procedures established by NC HIEA, including the privacy and security policy and user access policy. These policies adopted by NC HIEA describe the management, operation and maintenance of NC HealthConnex; the qualifications, requirements and activities of participants and authorized users when accessing NC HealthConnex; sending messages and using the NC HealthConnex value-added features; and other important topics. These policies also address the transaction of messages over the eHealth Exchange through NC HealthConnex.

Once your health care organization completes your participation agreement, you can submit it in one of two ways:

• Email the completed pdf document to hiea@nc.gov (preferred method).
   
• Submit it via mail to:
  N.C. Health Information Exchange Authority
  Mail Service Center 4101
  Raleigh, NC 27699-4101

Due to the recent volume of agreements submitted, please allow 6 to 8 weeks to receive your executed agreement.