In news– Recently, the Union Cabinet has approved the national roll-out of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) with a budget of Rs.1,600 crore for five years.
About the Mission-
- ABDM, (earlier called the National Digital Health Mission), is the Central Sector Scheme of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
- It aims to develop the backbone necessary to support the integrated digital health infrastructure of the country.
- It was launched on 15th August 2020 as a pilot in six Union Territories – Andaman & Nicobar, Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Ladakh, Lakshadweep and Puducherry.
- On 27th September 2021, the national rollout of the ABDM was announced.
- Four components of the Mission are Ayushman Bharat Health Accounts (ABHA) (earlier known as Health ID), Health Professional Registry (HPR), Health Facility Registry (HFR) and ABHA App (PHR).
ABHA number: It will be used for the purposes of identification of an individual across healthcare providers, authenticating them, and threading their health records (only with the informed consent of the patient) across multiple systems and stakeholders.
HPR: It is a comprehensive repository of all healthcare professionals involved in delivery of healthcare services across both modern and traditional systems of medicine.
HFR: It is a comprehensive repository of health facilities of the nation across different systems of medicine. It includes both public and private health facilities including hospitals, clinics, diagnostic laboratories and imaging centers, pharmacies, etc.
ABHA App (PHR): A PHR is an electronic record of health-related information on an individual that conforms to nationally recognized interoperability standards and that can be drawn from multiple sources while being managed, shared, and controlled by the individual. The most salient feature of the PHR, and the one that distinguishes it from the electronic medical records (EMR) and EHR, is that the information it contains is under the control of the individual.
- Under the ABDM, citizens will be able to create their ABHA numbers, to which their digital health records can be linked.
- This will enable creation of longitudinal health records for individuals across various healthcare providers, and improve clinical decision making by healthcare providers.
- The mission will improve equitable access to quality healthcare by encouraging use of technologies such as telemedicine and enabling national portability of health services.
- ABHA numbers (earlier known as Health IDs) have been created for those beneficiaries enrolled through the CoWIN platform.
- The National Health Authority (NHA) is the implementing agency of ABDM.
- The Information Technology Act 2000 along with policies and guidelines including but not limited to Health Data Management Policy, Sandbox Guidelines etc. published by ABDM from time to time lay down the regulatory and policy framework for the regulation of ABDM.
