Statewide HIE Announced in NC

North Carolina hospital and physician leaders have announced plans to create a statewide healthcare information network to facilitate the adoption of meaningful use.

When operational, the North Carolina Healthcare Information Exchange will allow physicians to create a continuity of care record for each patient, including clinical information from all of the providers in the exchange. NCHEX will launch in seven hospitals, three freestanding emergency departments and 57 physician practices, as the first step towards a statewide health information exchange that meets the criteria for an HIE outlined in the HITECH Act for Meaningful Use.

NCHEX backers include:

• The North Carolina Hospital Association; 135 members
• The North Carolina Medical Society, more than 11,000 physician members;
• Moses Cone Health System, in Greensboro;
• WakeMed Health & Hospitals in Raleigh;
• Consultants Thomson Reuters;
• HIT vendor CareEvolution. 

The exchange will be open to all North Carolina healthcare providers and will connect with regional health information organizations, exchanges, and technology systems using the Nationwide Health Information Network Connect and other HIE standards.

To save time and money, NCHEX will be built on the infrastructure developed for the North Carolina Hospital Emergency Surveillance System, which was created by the state in 2004 to capture real-time clinical data from 114 hospital information systems.

See Also:

HHS Meaningful Use Final Rule Draws Guarded Initial Praise

Computer Sciences opens online community for EHR meaningful use