What is a health information exchange or HIE?

According to the National Alliance for Health Information Technology, the definition of HIE is "the electronic movement of health-related information among organizations according to nationally recognized standards." Those standards include the reliable and secure transfer of data between all HIE participants across diverse platforms for the purpose of improving the quality of patient care. Essentially, HIE would allow physicians and organizations that are participating in the HIE to access a patient's record to review the patient's history, medications, and lab work to better treat that individual. In addition, with the compilation of information available within the HIE, public health patterns could be culled to monitor chronic illness or emerging epidemics.

North Carolina's HIE Initiatives

NC HIE

Under an order from Governor Perdue, the North Carolina Health and Wellness Trust Fund Commission (HWTF) was authorized as the Designated State Entity (SDE) to apply for and receive federal funding under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The HWTF Commission applied for funding and on February 8, 2010, HWTF was notified that North Carolina had been awarded $12.9M for building health information exchange capacity. On April 30, 2010, a new 501 (c) (3) non-profit entity was incorporated as North Carolina Health Information Exchange (NC HIE) to assume a leadership and governance role for the planning, design and implementation of a statewide health information exchange for North Carolina.

For more information on the NC HIE, visit www.ncdhhs.gov/healthit.

NCHEX

The North Carolina Medical Society (NCMS) and the North Carolina Hospital Association (NCHA) are partnering with Moses Cone Health System and WakeMed Health & Hospitals to work with Thomson Reuters and CareEvolution to launch the North Carolina Healthcare Information Exchange (NCHEX). The exchange will allow physicians to assemble a “continuity of care” record for each patient, comprising the patient’s clinical information from all of the providers participating in the exchange. The enhanced patient information will enable better quality and more efficient patient care.

NCHEX, which is launching with seven hospitals, three freestanding emergency departments and 57 physician practices, is the first step toward a statewide health information exchange (HIE) for North Carolina. It meets all the criteria for an HIE outlined in the ARRA HITECH Act for Meaningful Use.

The exchange will be open to all NC healthcare providers and will actively seek to contract with existing regional health information organizations, health information exchanges, and healthcare information technology systems by leveraging Nationwide Health Information Network Connect and other HIE standards.

Organizations and physician practices interested in joining NCHEX or seeking additional information can visit http://www.nchex.net/.

Latest News and Additional Resources

• BCBSNC and Allscripts to offer EHR and connection to the state of North Carolina’s Health Information Exchange to eligible physicians; BCBSNC to pay 85% of the implementation cost for 5 years. For more information, visit www.allscripts.com/ncpath.
  
• Coastal Carolinas Health Alliance (CCHA) has been awarded $1.46 million in grant funding from the Duke Endowment to assist with the expansion of the Regional Health Information Exchange (HI). More info...