If you’re a health care provider that treats Medicaid patients, then you’re going to have to share their medical information with the state.

Collecting data on Medicaid patients is all part of North Carolina’s intent to get a better handle on reducing duplicative services and improving health outcomes. And it’s all stored in the state’s Health Information Exchange (HIE), a data warehouse that lets a medical provider view a patient’s comprehensive medical history and communicate with other providers who are involved with that patient’s health care.

Christie Burris, Executive Director of the state’s HIE Authority, relayed more of the details during yesterday’s Legislative Oversight Committee on Health and Human Services.

According to state law, providers who treat Medicaid patients must connect their electronic health record (EHR) systems with the HIE by June 1, 2020. For providers who need more time, they can be granted an extension so long as they demonstrate to the state that they are making a good faith effort to integrate their EHRs.

So far, 1,200 facilities and counting are submitting patient records to the state.

It’s clear that big data has established a strong presence in health care, but that doesn’t come without concerns. For starters, the state now owns patient information. Granted, patients have the right to opt out of having their information shared among providers through the HIE, but North Carolina stands as an opt in state by default.

Legislators also raised questions about the feasibility of the state’s HIE integration strategy. What are the implementation costs, for example, and how will small practices be impacted? More importantly, how will this affect the physician-patient relationship?