North Carolina General Statutes Chapter 131E. Health Care Facilities and Services § 131E-214. Title and purpose

(a) This Article is the Medical Care Data Act.

(b) The General Assembly finds that, as a result of rising medical care costs and the concern expressed by medical care providers, medical care consumers, third-party payors, and health care planners involved with planning for the provision of medical care, there is an urgent and continuing need to understand patterns and trends in the use and cost of medical care services in this State. The purposes of this Article are as follows:

These purposes are to be accomplished by requiring that all hospitals and freestanding ambulatory surgical facilities submit information necessary for a review and comparison of charges, utilization patterns, and quality of medical services to a data processor that maintains a statewide database of medical care data and that makes medical care data available to interested persons, including medical care providers, third-party payors, medical care consumers, and health care planners.