NMC tells medical college hospitals to integrate digital health records of all patients

NMC mandates medical colleges to link patient records with Ayushman Bharat IDs, enhancing transparency and combating fraudulent patient claims.

In a big push for the nationwide linking of digital health records, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has directed all medical colleges to generate and link the Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA)-IDs of all patients availing out-patient, in-patient, and emergency services at the hospitals attached to these colleges.

The aim is to weed out the fake patients that some institutions claim during NMC’s annual assessment and registration renewal process for all medical colleges, and to make the process more objective and transparent.

In its communication to medical colleges, the Commission said that the “generation and linkaging of ABHA-ID of patients visiting OPD/IPD/Emergency services in hospitals attached to Medical Colleges is an important prerequisite for objective verification of the clinical workload.’’

It added that the National Health Authority, which is the nodal agency for the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, has simplified the ABHA-ID registration process to make it hassle-free for patients.

The ABHA-ID is a unique, 14-digit identification number assigned to Indian patients to create a secure, paperless digital health record ecosystem. It facilitates the linking of medical records — such as doctor prescriptions, lab reports, and diagnoses — across various hospitals, clinics, and insurance providers nationwide.