The North Carolina Medical Society is encouraging physicians to review and comment on the Draft Operational Plan for the NC  Health Information Exchange (NCHIE), which can be viewed here. Comments must be submitted via email by this coming Wednesday, August 25th to [email protected]. This is an opportunity for physicians to provide input to the development of the statewide health information exchange, which will influence the availability of your patients’ health information.

NCMS staff will review the operational plan in detail over the weekend and post our comments on the NCMS website prior to the deadline.  One recommendation of the plan that we would like to see modified concerns patient consent under the Legal and Policy Section (pp 93-109), subsection 8.5 (p 101).  The current recommendation would give patients the ability to prohibit certain providers from disclosing their information into the NC HIE.  NCMS believes that patient records accessible over the HIE should be complete.  Patients should not be able to selectively exclude portions of their record from the exchange.  

Physicians have been actively involved in the development of the Draft Operational Plan, with the final draft prepared by Manatt Health Solutions approved by the NC HIE Board.  NCMS Past President G. Hadley Callaway, MD, and several other physicians serve on the NC HIE Board.  For a list of all physicians participating on the NC HIE Board, click here.