HIE data are a useful resource for influenza hospitalization surveillance. They are sensitive, specific and representative of the true population of laboratory-confirmed influenza patients admitted to the hospital. It also provided data that were adequately timely and complete. Microbiology laboratory data improved the sensitivity and PPV of the Public Health Surveillance HIE feed to levels near that of NC reporting when used in combination with discharge diagnoses. Thus, for influenza, this enhanced syndromic data feed is comparable to traditional clinical surveillance.