North Carolina legislators unanimously passed House Bill 395 HIE Deadline Extension and Patient Protection. This legislation moves the deadline that most providers, including social workers, need to have an electronic health record and connect to the state’s Health Information Exchange (HIE). The new deadline to connect will be January 1, 2023 (originally the deadline was October 1, 2021). The bill prohibits in-network providers from providing health services under contract with the State Health Plan who are not connected to the HIE from billing the State Health Plan or billing a patient more to recoup funds lost due to the provider not connecting to the HIE by the deadline.
Lastly, the bill requires the HIE Advisory Board to report to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Health and Human Services. A report is due by March 1, 2022. In the report, the HIE will work to identify and contact all providers required to connect and provide information about connecting. This March report date gives the Legislative Oversight Committee time to let legislators know if changes to the law are needed during the 2022 legislative short session.
We are thrilled to announce that Governor Cooper signed this bill into law on Thursday, May 27, 2021. We will provide more details as they are made available.
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