• India
  • Mar 01

Explainer - Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA)

• Over 25 crore health records of individuals have been linked digitally to Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) under the National Health Authority’s flagship scheme Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission.  

• These records can be easily accessed and managed by people using any of the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) enabled health applications.

• The digitally available health records will enable the ABHA holders in availing paperless health services across the ABDM network.

What is Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA)?

• Under Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), a user can voluntarily generate Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) number. 

• ABHA is a 14-digit unique ID in the digital health care ecosystem.

• The ABHA number can be used to link the user’s medical records, including doctor prescriptions, lab reports, hospital records, etc. It can also link all health care benefits ranging from public health programmes to insurance schemes to unique ABHA number.

• These records can be shared with registered health professionals and health service providers.

• It can also be used to access other digital health services whilst maintaining a common pool of medical history.

• Individuals can use their Personal Health Records (PHR) apps to access their records across different health facilities like hospitals, clinics, diagnostic labs, among others, and store them in the app.   

• The health care providers get consented access to detailed patient history, thereby helping them in better clinical decision making. 

• Generation of ABHA is voluntary. In order to issue the ID, the system will collect certain basic details, including location.

• The user can generate their ABHA number using their Aadhaar number and some basic demographic details like name, date of birth, gender and address. If the user does not wish to use Aadhaar, they can use driving licence or mobile number to generate the ABHA number. 

• Also, the user can request for permanent deletion or temporary deactivation of your ABHA number.

Digital linking of health records

• Digitisation of physical records is crucial to the objective of building an inter-operable and accessible health care ecosystem. 

• With ABHA-linked health records, patients are empowered with ready access to their records and the choice of sharing selected records.

• The digital linking of health records has been making tremendous progress with active involvement at state/UT level. 

• In the last 40 days, the number of health records linked to ABHA have jumped from 4 crore (as on January 18) to 25 crore (as on February 27). 

• The health records linkage also got a major push by integration of ABHA with the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY). With over 9.8 crore AB-PMJAY health records linked to ABHA, the scheme beneficiaries get portable and digital records which they can access and share online in a secure manner.

• Additionally, health programmes under the government of Andhra Pradesh, CoWIN and Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) scheme under the ministry of health, eHospital by NIC, eSushrut by CDAC and TeCHO by the government of Gujarat are among other key schemes which are digitally linking health records of the respective beneficiaries.

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