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HB 123 North Carolina House · 2025-2026 Session

Criminal Falsification of Medical Records.

HB 123 makes it a crime for health care providers to willfully destroy, alter, or falsify medical records to conceal medical errors causing patient harm, illegally obtain money, or hide facts related to potential legal claims. It creates specific criminal penalties: a serious felony for hiding errors that caused injury or death, a lesser felony for financial gain, and a misdemeanor for other concealment. The law applies to all health care providers and becomes effective December 1, 2025. It explicitly states this does not affect existing civil remedies available to patients.
Issues: ✓ HealthcareSupports HealthcareBill protects patient rights by criminalizing falsification of medical records that conceal errors causing harm, directly addressing healthcare transparency and safety standards.90% confidence
Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2025
Committee Review
Apr 2025
House Passage
Apr 2025
Senate Passage
Governor
Introduced Feb 13, 2025 Last action Apr 10, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

Edition 1 → Edition 2 · 4 edits
MODERATE
This bill was significantly rewritten to expand its scope and strengthen penalties for falsifying medical records. The original version only covered specific purposes like concealing errors or obtaining money, while the new version adds willful omission of information and clarifies the definition of medical records and health care providers.
Scope change
The bill's scope expanded from Article 29 of Chapter 90 to Article 52 of Chapter 14, and now includes willful omission of information from medical records in addition to destruction, alteration, or falsification.
SCOPE

The bill now covers willful omission of information from medical records in addition to destruction, alteration, or falsification.

DEFINITION

New definitions were added for 'health care provider' and 'medical record' to clarify who and what the law applies to.

ENFORCEMENT

Penalty structure was reorganized with clearer distinctions between concealing medical errors (Class H felony), concealing material facts (Class A1 misdemeanor), and financial exchanges related to falsification (Class I felony).

REQUIREMENT

The bill now explicitly includes conspiracy between health care providers as a punishable offense.

Floor votes · House Apr 9, 2025

How they voted

90–23
Passed · 8 other
Total votes 121
Apr 9, 2025
D Democratic46
23 Yea 22 Nay 1
50% Yea
I Independent2
1 Nay 1
50% Nay
R Republican73
67 Yea 6
91% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
20
Key actions
4
Committee
9
Apr 10, 2025
Committee
Ref To Com On Rules and Operations of the Senate
upper
Apr 9, 2025
Lower · Passed
Passed 3rd Reading
lower
Apr 3, 2025
Lower · Passed
Reptd Fav
lower
Apr 2, 2025
Committee
Re-ref Com On Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House
lower
Mar 25, 2025
Committee
Re-ref to the Com on Judiciary 2, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House
lower
Mar 18, 2025
Committee
Re-ref Com On Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House
lower
Mar 18, 2025
Lower · Passed
Reptd Fav Com Substitute
lower
Mar 4, 2025
Committee
Re-ref Com On Health
lower
Mar 4, 2025
Lower · Passed
Reptd Fav
lower
Feb 17, 2025
Committee
Ref to the Com on Judiciary 2, if favorable, Health, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House
lower
Feb 13, 2025
Introduced
Filed
lower
0 primary · 5 co-sponsors

Sponsors

No sponsor information available.