31-Oct-2022: National Health Authority (NHA) organised a workshop in Bengaluru to accelerate adoption of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM)

The National Health Authority (NHA) organised a workshop in Bengaluru on 28th October 2022 with stakeholders such as State Mission Directors, IRDAI, WHO, health industry leaders, health-tech companies, development organizations, partner NGOs etc. to brainstorm on the steps required to enable rapid adoption of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) across the country. The event started with a brief context setting by Dr. R. S. Sharma, CEO NHA in presence of Shri Nandan Nilekani, Infosys Co-founder and ex-Chairman UIDAI.

As part of the event, the team visited C V Raman General Hospital in Bengaluru for a walk-through of ABDM enabled processes adopted by the hospital and their on-ground impact. The hospital had recently implemented QR Code based OPD registration service which has helped them reduce the waiting time in the OPD block considerably.

During the workshop participants discussed the latest developments under ABDM that shall enable true interoperability in the health sector and how effective adoption of ABDM can pave the way towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

The State Mission Directors from states of Karnataka, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh which are among the early adopters of ABDM shared their experiences and learnings from ABHA creation & linking of health records at public hospitals and as part of state health programs.

Talking further about the efforts from the government side, Shri Adil Zainulbhai, Chairman of Capacity Building Commission & Quality Council of India, spoke about working on strengthening the digital health ecosystem by developing more use cases like the QR Code based OPD registrations and working on policy frameworks which shall drive a pull-factor for adoption of ABDM. Elaborating on the critical role ABDM’s HCX can play, Ms. Yegnapriya Bharath, Chief General Manager, IRDAI spoke about how faster processing of health insurance claims as a benefit can help attract the insurance sector players to adopt the scheme.

From the private sector, representatives of ABDM enabled facilities such as SRL Labs, Apollo Hospitals and Narayana Hrudayalaya shared their perspective and the challenges they are facing in active adoption of the scheme along with steps required to address them. Representing the technology provider side were Crelio Health, Plus91 and Practo with their views on how ABDM enabled HMIS, LIMS, teleconsultation and other digital health solutions can help onboard more healthcare providers and contribute to digitization of health records for individuals.

Dr. Basant Garg, Additional CEO, NHA moderated a dedicated session with doctors who are a key stakeholder segment of the scheme. Representatives from private integrators such as Sahamati, Driefcase, IHX, Ekacare, Paytm and Sattva also shared their views and innovative ideas on increasing the adoption of ABDM.

Concluding the workshop, Dr. R. S. Sharma, CEO, NHA said - “ABDM is a complex scheme with many layers of technical capabilities and a vast set of stakeholders. Bringing them all together and creating a platform for collaboration is the main challenge. However, reciprocity among stakeholders is quite important to ensure the scheme’s adoption. This workshop helped us gather the stakeholders’ perspectives and we intend to hold some more collective brainstorming sessions in future. It has been a great learning experience as we look forward to mission mode implementation of ABDM.”

24-Aug-2022: Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment signed a MoU with National Health Authority

Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Health Authority (NHA) for providing a Comprehensive Medical Package to Transgender Persons under Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY today at Dr. Ambedkar International Centre, New Delhi. MoU was signed by secretary Shri R. Subrahmanyam, Department of Social Justice and Empowerment under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and Dr. R.S. Sharma Chief executive officer National Health Authority, under the Ministry of Health and family welfare in the presence of Dr. Virendra Kumar, Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment and Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare.

On this occasion, Union Minister Dr. Virendra Kumar said that this joint initiative of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Ministry of Social Welfare and Empowerment is first of its kind in the Country and will not only give a new direction to our society, but also provide Transgender Persons rightful and respectable place in the society.

The Minister said that under this medical health package, a special "Ayushman Bharat TG Plus" card is being provided for the transgender society by linking the SMILE scheme with the "Ayushman Bharat Scheme" of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, under which more than 50 health facilities are being provided. Benefits will be given free of cost. Going a step further for the Transgender society, provision has been made for cosmetic surgery under this card. India will be the first country in the world to provide free of cost facilities like cosmetic surgery to the transgender community under a government scheme. Simultaneously, a person belonging to a transgender society from any state, any part of India will be able to take advantage of this card in any hospital affiliated with Ayushman Bharat.

Dr. Virendra Kumar said that Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay is committed to realize his dream of "Antyodaya" to bring every oppressed and marginalized section of the society into the mainstream and in that direction, the MoU is being signed. This is a very important step. This joint initiative of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment will not only give a new direction to our society, but will also give its proper and respectable place to the transgender society. He said  Government of India is dedicated for bringing change in the society with steps for five assurances: Education, Life with dignity, Health support, Opportunities for livelihood and Skill Enhancement.

On this occasion, Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare that the government is working in a decisive way to not only recognize rights of the transgender community but has taken various systematic steps for their welfare. He congratulated the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment for taking several initiatives for the transgender community, be it “The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019”, Garima Greh, PM Daksh program or other schemes/initiatives taken recently.

Dr. Mandaviya said that today’s MoU between National Health Authority (NHA) and the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment (MoSJE) will extend all healthcare benefits to transgender persons (holding a transgender certificate issued by the National Portal for transgender persons) across the country. MoSJE will fund Rs.5 lakh insurance cover per transgender beneficiary per annum. A comprehensive package master is being prepared for transgender category including the existing AB PM-JAY packages and specific packages (Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) and treatment) for transgenders. They will be eligible to seek treatment in any of the AB PM-JAY empanelled hospitals across the country, where specific packages are available. The scheme would cover all transgender persons not receiving such benefits from other centre/state sponsored schemes.

Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is providing identity cards to the people of the transgender society by registering them at the central level, provision of scholarship has been made, transgender protection cells are being set up, skill development programs are being done as well as provision has also been made for the Transgender society for a "comprehensive medical health package".

4-Aug-2022: National Health Authority (NHA) joins hands with Quality Council of India (QCI) to accredit ABDM compliant healthcare solutions like HMIS/LMIS

The National Health Authority (NHA) has onboarded the Quality Council of India (QCI) for six months to accredit and rate HMIS (Health Management Information System)/ LMIS (Laboratory Information Management System) solutions that have integrated with Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM). The National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH), the constituent board of QCI is responsible for national accreditation in the domain of healthcare. NABH will undertake the responsibility of accrediting and rating the ABDM compliant solutions on various parameters, including ease of usage, user interface, pricing, number of modules/features and value for money/pricing so that prospective purchasers may get credible information.

Talking about the purpose of this initiative, Dr. R. S. Sharma, CEO, NHA said – “With ABDM, we aim to encourage innovations by streamlining delivery of health tech services in a significant way. We plan to develop a framework to ensure that ABDM compliant digital healthcare solutions are accredited and rated and to adequate information is available to consumers for choosing one solution over another. For this, we are partnering with the QCI to develop a review plan and complete the accreditation and review of at least 10 HMIS solutions (public and private) that have successfully integrated with ABDM in the next six months.”

Addressing the impact of the initiative, Shri Adil Zainulbhai, Chairman, QCI said – “The way NHA is revolutionizing public healthcare access in India through its digital health initiatives is simply phenomenal. This programme for accreditation of software solutions under ABDM for management of hospitals, labs, and clinics is a big leap for health tech in India. I am delighted that QCI & NABH will join hands with the NHA in shaping this programme. Accredited health tech solutions will help healthcare organizations manage their patient journeys and business more methodically in accordance with ABDM standards. And ultimately, this initiative will help the citizens of India get better and more timely healthcare and help India become one of the leaders in digitization of healthcare in the world”

This accreditation exercise will be conducted in a phased manner. Phase I shall focus on accreditation and rating of HMIS solutions successfully integrated with ABDM. Subsequent phases shall include other subjective parameters and other categories of healthcare solutions like LMIS, Health Lockers, Health Tech, PHR (Personal Health Records) apps etc.

As part of this initiative, NABH, QCI will onboard digital health experts for developing an accreditation standard for digital health solutions across various categories of products (e.g., HMIS, LMIS, Health Locker etc.) that have successfully completed their ABDM integration. The test environment for the review parameters shall be provided by NHA. Applicants like public health programs, software providers, hospitals, labs, healthcare aggregators etc. who wish to get this accreditation are required to submit their ‘Accreditation Application’ to NABH along with their compliance to accreditation standards and the ABDM requirements.

The solutions shall be reviewed on the finalized accreditation standards (based on international standards in the healthcare software ecosystem as well as the indicative list of technical standards provided by NHA). An independent team of experts engaged by QCI will then rate the accredited healthcare solutions and monitor them periodically for their operational performance, compliance with minimum viable requirement as per guidelines and maintenance of standards, and user experience. Users will also be able to submit their feedback which will be added to the rating mechanism. The ratings and reviews for the solutions shall be published on ABDM Website along with the platform suggested by QCI.

With this initiative, NHA aims to enable a prospective buyer to make an informed decision by comparing healthcare solutions that fall under the same category (like HMIS, LMIS, health locker, health tech etc.). The QCI is an autonomous body instituted by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India with the objective to provide a credible, reliable mechanism for third party assessment of products, services and processes which is accepted and recognized globally.

6-Jul-2022: National Health Authority (NHA) announces successful onboarding of more than one lakh government and private health care facilities in the Health Facility Registry of its flagship scheme Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM)

More than one lakh health care facilities across government and private sector have been successfully onboarded in the Health Facility Registry (HFR) under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM). This historic milestone paves the way for greater adoption of digital health platform and services across the country.

ABDM is the flagship scheme of government being implemented by National Health Authority (NHA). Health Facility Registry (HFR) which is being built under the ABDM is a comprehensive repository of health facilities of the country across modern and traditional systems of medicine. It includes both public and private health facilities including hospitals, clinics, diagnostic laboratories and imaging centers.

The ABDM aims to create a seamless online platform that will enable interoperability within the digital healthcare ecosystem. ABDM has developed building blocks and interoperable APIs (Application Programming Interface) to offer a seamless digital healthcare experience for all stakeholders – health facilities, patients and healthcare professionals. One of the key building blocks is the Health Facility Registry.

Elaborating on the significance of HFR, Dr. R.S. Sharma, CEO, NHA said – “Our aim is to build a trusted national platform where patients can easily get details of registered healthcare professionals and health facilities across the country. We have seen enthusiastic participation of both public and private sector health facilities which have now become a part of this national registry. Patients can easily search the ABDM network for registered facilities across different systems of medicine like modern medicine (Allopathic), Ayurveda, Dentistry, Homeopathy, Physiotherapy, Unani, Siddha or Sowa Rigpa. Similarly, we have the ABHA numbers for patients and Healthcare Professionals Registry (HPR) for professionals like doctors, nurses and paramedics. These national registries will help in making quality healthcare accessible and affordable for all.”

Registration in HFR allows listing of the health facilities on a trusted national platform and enables health facilities to get connected to India's digital health ecosystem through ABDM compliant software solutions. This will help citizens seeking healthcare services by improving the discovery of health facilities through soon to be launched Unified Health Interface. Facilities can register through the website https://facility.abdm.gov.in/ or through various integrators such as health-tech players.

Among the verified facilities, around 97% belongs to government sector. Highest number of verified health facilities are in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Assam. More details on the verified/ registered facilities under the HFR based on their ownership (public or private), systems of medicine and the state/ UT wise performance are available on the ABDM public dashboard https://dashboard.abdm.gov.in/abdm/. The charts show daily, monthly and cumulative trends in the progress of this national level registry.

Each health facility in the registry has a unique identifier, which is used to map the facility across the ABDM ecosystem and provide comprehensive data on all private and public health facilities in the country. This unique identifier can be utilized (via consented-access) by other entities such as ABDM compliant software solutions to identify the facility, retrieve and use required facility data for required purposes.

30-May-2022: NHA launches online public dashboard for Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM)

The National Health Authority (NHA) under its flagship scheme of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) has launched a public dashboard for near real-time information on the scheme. The ABDM public dashboard displays detailed information on the core registries under the mission – Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) numbers, Healthcare Professionals Registry (HPR) and Health Facility Registry (HFR).

As per the dashboard, as on 30th May 2022, the total number of ABHA (earlier known as health ID) created are 22.1 crore, over 16.6 thousand healthcare professionals have registered in the HPR, over 69.4 thousand health facilities have been registered in the HFR, over 1.8 lakh health records already linked by users and the recently revamped ABHA app has crossed over 5.1 lakh downloads.

All stakeholders can easily access the ABDM public dashboard from the ABDM website or directly here: https://dashboard.abdm.gov.in/abdm/ . The dashboard captures data related to the number of ABHA generated, number of healthcare professionals like doctors, nurses etc. registered, digital health records linked with ABHA. The dashboard also has granular details in relation to number of health facilities like hospitals, laboratories etc. registered on a daily basis as well as cumulative till date. Also, partner-wise data of ABHA generation created and digital health records linked are made available on the dashboard in real time. This data is further broken down into several key components that gives updates on the scheme’s progress in specific areas.

Elaborating on the thought behind the public dashboard, Dr. R.S. Sharma, CEO, NHA said – “ABDM is built on the principles of accessibility, transparency, inclusivity and inter-operability. The ABDM public dashboard puts the updated information related to the scheme in the public domain to ensure all stakeholders have access to the data in a transparent manner. This also gives a clear picture of the progress made by ABDM ecosystem partners since we have included the data related to number of ABHA created by different partners as well as the number of health records linked platform-wise.”

The ABDM public dashboard gives a transparent view of the number of ABHA generated on national as well as state/ UT level. The numbers are further segregated on the basis of gender and age. ABHA number generation facility is also available via several popular digital health applications like CoWIN, PMJAY, Aarogya Setu, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, e-Sushrut Railway Hospital, etc. The ABDM Dashboard also displays each partner’s performance and the number of health records linked by each partnering app.

For Health Facility Registry, the dashboard presents the data in infographics format based on ownership (government or private), systems of medicine (Modern Medicine - Allopathy, Ayurveda, Sowa- Rigpa, Physiotherapy, Unani, Dentistry, Siddha, Homeopathy etc.) and state-wise facilities registered under the ABDM. Similarly, for the HPR, the dashboard shows the data segregation on basis of their employment type - government or private sector, systems of medicine and the states/ UT from where the applications have been received.

Besides the detailed information available on the ABDM public dashboard, the main ABDM website (https://abdm.gov.in/) has a section with all the numbers in a concise manner. Also, the ABDM sandbox portal has a dashboard section (https://sandbox.abdm.gov.in/applications/Integrators) that shares details of the integrators/ health tech service providers/ apps that have already integrated with ABDM and are registered as ABDM partners.

24-May-2022: National Health Authority announces revamped ABHA mobile application to manage health records under Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission

The National Health Authority (NHA) under its flagship scheme of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) announced the launch of a revamped Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) mobile application.  The ABHA app, previously known as NDHM Health Records app is available for download from the Google Play Store and already has over 4 lakh downloads. The updated version of the ABHA app has new User Interface (UI) and added functionalities that enable individuals to access their health records anytime and anywhere. Existing ABHA app users can also update their previous app versions to the latest one.

The ABHA mobile application enables an individual to create an ABHA address (username@abdm), an easy to remember username that can be linked with the 14 digit randomly generated ABHA number. The mobile application also enables users to link their health records created at ABDM compliant health facility and view them in their smartphones. The application also allows self-uploading of physical health records in the ABDM compliant health lockers along with sharing of digital health records such as diagnostic reports, prescriptions, CoWIN vaccination certificate etc. after the consent of an individual through the ABDM network.

In addition to this, ABHA mobile application has new functionalities such as edit profile, link and unlink ABHA number (14 digit) with ABHA address. Other functionalities such as Login via face authentication / fingerprint/ biometric and  ability to scan QR code at the counter of the ABDM compliant facility for express registration shall also be released soon.

Elaborating on the ABHA mobile app, Dr. R.S. Sharma, CEO, National Health Authority (NHA) said: “The ABHA app will be instrumental in helping citizens to create their longitudinal health records. The patients can access their health records with the help of their ABHA address in seconds which will empower them in many ways. It will enable them to save their health history on a single platform and access or share their health records anytime and anywhere without a worry of losing them. This digitization of data exchange will ensure better clinical decision making and continuum of care.”

The Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) Mobile App (previously known as NDHM Health Records or PHR App) can be downloaded from the Google Play Store or by clicking on this link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=in.ndhm.phr . The iOS version of the ABHA mobile app will be launched shortly.

13-May-2022: NHA organizes convention of Technology Partners of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM)

The National Health Authority (NHA) organized an exclusive convention for technology partners of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) at New Delhi on 13th May 2022. The event brought together representatives from over 40 health tech organizations from the government and private sector to discuss the different ways in which the digital health ecosystem of India can be strengthened further.

Addressing the participants, Dr. R. S. Sharma, CEO, NHA said – “The core objective of ABDM is to leverage technology to deliver health services to remotest areas of the country. To address the lack of infrastructure and access to doctors, ABDM envisages all healthcare-related activities to move online. For this, it is imperative that we take up the onboarding of healthcare professionals and health facilities in the national registries of HPR (Healthcare Professionals Registry) and HFR (Health Facilities Registry) being built by ABDM. The health tech players can bring in innovative solutions with lesser steps to onboard professionals & facilities using the open APIs published. They can further train other small players on ABDM onboard process and spread awareness about benefits of registering in HFR/HPR.”

“We also seek inputs from the health tech partners as to how we can activate the ecosystem for building digital public goods (DPGs), expanding the scope of DPGs like online reservation system (ORS) created by NIC, blood bank by NIC/CDAC, universal immunization, NOTTO, and also taking them to the end-users in a more structured and easily adaptable manner.” – Dr. Sharma added further.

The team from ABDM organized a few informative sessions on the scheme updates, upcoming features under ABDM and the challenges faced on the way. Between each session, the floor was left open for an open-house discussion and feedback session. The participants shared key learnings and suggestions based on their on-ground experience and deep understanding of the market as well as user behavior.

The NHA team also felicitated the developers of 40 digital health solutions integrated with ABDM with certificates. The convention participants represented the below ABDM integrated solutions (listed category-wise in no particular order):

• HMIS solutions like e-Hospital by NIC, e-Sushrut by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) Noida, Medmantra by Apollo Hospitals, MediXcel by Plus91 Technologies Private Limited, EkaCare by Orbi Health, Bahmni by Thoughtworks Technologies, DocOn by DocOn Technologies, Bajaj Finserv Health for Doctors and Bajaj Finserv Health App by Bajaj Finserve Health Limited, DrucareOne by Drucare Pvt Ltd, Athma by Narayana Health Limited and Amrit by Piramal Swasthya Management and Research Institute.
• LMIS solution like Patient Registration Application by Dr Lal Pathlabs Ltd, Centralised Laboratory Information Management Systems (CLIMS) by SRL Limited and CrelioHealth by Crelio Health Software.
• Health Tech solutions like Practo by Practo Technologies, Verraton Health by Verraton Health Pvt. Ltd, MarSha Health Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) by MarSha Healthcare, Indian Joint Registry (IJR) by NEC Software Solutions India, Paytm by One97 Communications Limited, JioHealthHub by Reliance Digital Health Limited, Raxa by Raxa Health Information Services Private Limited, Doxper by InformDS Technologies Private Limited, MEDPlat by ArguSoft India Ltd, Pristyn Care by GHV Advanced Care Private Limited, ALA CARE by Alafied Solutions Private Limited and Curelink by Curelink Private Limited
• Personal Health Records (PHR) app like Aarogya Setu by National Informatics Centre (NIC), DigiLocker by National e-Governance Division, DRiefcase by Driefcase Healthtech Pvt Ltd and DocPrime by DocPrime Technologies
• Other health tech solutions developed by Central and State Governments like CoWIN by Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW), Nikshay by Central TB Division,  MoHFW, e-Aarogya by Health Department DNH & DD, ANM AP HEALTH app for Andhra Pradesh Medical Staff and EHR by Andhra Pradesh Health and Family Welfare Department, CPHC-NCD Software by National Institute of Health & Family Welfare (NIHFW), Transaction Management System (TMS) and Beneficiary Identification System (BIS) of Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) by National Health Authority (NHA), National Viral Hepatitis Control Program (NVHCP), Integrated Health Management System by West Bengal Health and Family Welfare, Reproductive & Child Health (RCH) Portal and Anmol application of National Health Mission (NHM) by NIC and e-Sanjeevani by C-DAC Mohali.

Speaking on the feedback received from the ABDM partners, Dr. Praveen Gedam, Additional CEO & Mission Director, ABDM said - “The discussions with the integrators were very fruitful. We received good feedback on the technical issues faced by different HMIS, LMIS, health tech, health locker and other solution providers in onboarding of patients as well as doctors. Their perspective on the practical challenges and suggestions on process improvisations have been duly noted by the ABDM team. We look forward to incorporate these and develop a more robust ecosystem.”

23-Apr-2022: National Health Authority releases revised draft of Heath Data Management (HDM) policy

The National Health Authority (NHA) had finalized and published the Heath Data Management (HDM) Policy for the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) in December 2020.  Since then, NHA has received feedback from various stakeholders and had learnings from pilot and national rollout of ABDM. Based on these, few revisions in the HDM Policy are contemplated. The draft with revisions has been released on 23rd April 2022 on the website https://abdm.gov.in/home/Publications under the heading “Consultation Papers”. All the stakeholders are requested to give their comments by 21st May 2022 on the website.

14-Apr-2022: National Health Authority (NHA) gives open call for Expression of Interest for developing innovative solutions for building digital health ecosystem for India

National Health Authority (NHA), the implementing agency for Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) has extended an open invitation to all interested parties for sharing their Expression of Interest (EoI) for developing innovative solutions that shall help build a national digital health ecosystem for India. This collaborative approach will not just help speed up the development but also will help in making digital public goods available to public and/or private entities. Interested parties shall provide these solutions as a service at no cost to public and/or private entities.

Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) aims to create a seamless online platform that will enable interoperability within the digital healthcare ecosystem. The mission has been conceptualized as a set of ‘digital building blocks’. Each building block is seen as a ‘digital public good’ that can be used by any entity in the digital health ecosystem and provides key capabilities that enable the ABDM vision.

Sharing the thought behind the NHA’s invitation for Expression of Interest (EoI), Dr R.S. Sharma, CEO, NHA added “The ABDM endeavours to give impetus to open and interoperable standards in the digital health ecosystem. Such an undertaking will not only expedite Universal Health Coverage goals in India, but also have ripple effects on the global health ecosystem. However, such an ambition requires all hands-on-deck. In this regard, the National Health Authority is giving an open call inviting all interested parties to contribute to the Unified Health Interface (UHI), Health Claims Protocol (HCP), and various other open-source digital public goods being created to expand the digital health ecosystem.”

ABDM has developed building blocks and interoperable APIs to offer a seamless digital healthcare experience for all stakeholders – health facilities, patients and healthcare professionals. The key building blocks of ABDM are - ABHA, Healthcare Professionals Registry (HPR), Health Facility Registry (HFR) and Health Information Exchange & Consent Manager (HIE-CM).

These building blocks are designed to enable identification of participating entities (health care providers, patients and health professionals) and enable exchange of interoperable health data with patient consent. The digital ecosystem developed is now accessible to health facilities and health tech players for integration.

Currently there are over 800 participants integrated with ABDM’s registries and enabling health data exchange through the HIE-CM. Further details regarding joining and integrating with the ABDM ecosystem are available at ABDM sandbox portal: https://sandbox.abdm.gov.in/

The interested developers/ parties can also make a significant contribution to the national digital health ecosystem development by sharing their Expression of Interest (EoI). Some illustrative examples of the contribution for this cause are as follows:

1. Unified Health Interface (UHI) - NHA intends to develop a digital platform (similar to Unified Payment Interface or UPI) for interoperability between various digital solutions to facilitate various stakeholders using disparate solutions to communicate. Interested parties can join the development community on https://github.com/NHA-ABDM/UHI.
2. Health Claims Platform (HCP) - NHA is developing a Health Claims Platform as a public good. Health providers (e g: Hospitals, labs) can submit their e-claims on this platform which can be received by payers (e.g.: Insurers, TPAs) for processing.
3. Software as a Service (SaaS) - Various digital health solutions can be used by healthcare providers. These may include solutions such as Hospital Information System (HIS), Hospital (or Health) Management Information System (HMIS), Laboratory Management Information System (LMIS), teleconsultation solution, health lockers, etc.
4. Open-Source Solutions - Interested parties are also invited to contribute through open-source software solutions that can be made available for use by various entities. These may include software mentioned the above para pertaining to SaaS or any other tool which may be of use to healthcare providers.
5. Other Solutions - Interested parties have any other idea for contributing to the cause of development of national digital health ecosystem may also reach out with specific proposal.

NHA is keen to collaborate with all technology providers/individuals to build a digital health network that works for all. Parties interested in providing these solutions as a service at no cost to public and/or private entities may submit their EoI for their intended purpose with details to NHA. Interest for the same may be intimated by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

2-Jan-2019: Cabinet approves restructuring of National Health Agency as "National Health Authority" for better implementation of Pradhan Mantri - Jan Arogya Yojana

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the restructuring of existing National Health Agency as "National Health Authority" for better implementation of Pradhan Mantri - Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY).

With this approval, the existing society "National Health Agency" has been dissolved and will be replaced by National Health Authority as an attached office to Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.

The existing multi-tier decision making structure has been replaced with the Governing Board chaired by the Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India which will enable the decision making at a faster pace, required for smooth implementation of the scheme. The composition of the Governing Board is broad based with due representations from the Government, domain experts, etc. Besides, the States shall also be represented in the Governing Board on rotational basis.

No new funds have been approved. Existing budget that was approved earlier by the Cabinet for The National Health Agency, including costs related to IT, human resources, infrastructure, operational costs etc. would be utilized by the proposed National Health Authority.

It is envisaged that the National Health Authority shall have full accountability, authority and mandate to implement PM-JAY through an efficient, effective and transparent decision-making process.