HB 179 – Amend HIE Participation Enforcement Mechanism

Primary House Sponsors: Rep. Donny Lambeth (R-Forsyth); Rep. Edward Goodwin (R-Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Perquimans, Tyrrell, Washington)

Summary

This bill would permit the Health Information Exchange Authority to assess a civil penalty (no more than $10 per claim that the provider/entity fails to submit through the Network during any period of noncompliance) against any provider/entity that fails to connect to the HIE Network and submit required demographic and clinical data through the Network.

The bill would require providers/entities to do one of the following within 30 days of receiving a notice of a civil penalty: (1) pay the fine; (2) contact the HIE Authority and execute a participation agreement; (3) contact the Department of Information Technology to request an exemption or contact DHHS to request a hardship extension; or (4) file a petition for a contested case with the Office of Administrative Hearings.

This bill also authorizes the HIE Authority to institute an action in the superior court of the county in which the entity or provider has a principal place of business to recover the unpaid penalty if the provider/entity fails to take any action following receipt of a penalty.

Movement

Filed – 2/25/2021