ABHA IDs: a step towards electronic health records

Ayushman Bharat Mission, launched in 2018, aimed to transform the public health landscape in India.

The mission represents a significant stride in transforming our public health ecosystem, yet it must carefully address challenges to the country's public health infrastructure, among them being patient identification.

Whether it is about universal healthcare, subsidized pharmaceuticals, or strategic physical investments, the system needs visibility into the population it has to serve. 

Electronic Health Records (EHRs) address one aspect of it. EHRs enable comprehensive sharing of patient information across public and private healthcare sectors, improving care coordination and patient outcomes. EHRs being a strategic initiative, also allow for the creation of a longitudinal and horizontal view of health for everyone in the system.

We launched a poll, asking you about when the concept of EHRs was introduced in India, in line with the National Digital Health Blueprint.

In 2020, the National Digital Health Blueprint was introduced, making the case for EHRs.

ABHA IDs serve as a standardized nationwide EHR database, opening the door for digital interventions that can allow data sitting in silos to talk to each other.

We launched a poll to know your perspective on ABHA IDs and its position in the Governance Matrix.

Samagra PoV

In our view, Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) IDs initiative, is a ‘Sleeping Giant’ with low ‘political salience’ and high ‘system capacity’.

In the evolving landscape of digital health in India, ABHA IDs have emerged as a notable development, facilitating EHRs in India. ABHA IDs are designed to provide a comprehensive and longitudinal view of individuals' health records, which can significantly enhance healthcare delivery and outcomes. The creation of ABHA IDs is tactical on the outside—akin to Aadhaar—while being highly strategic on the inside, offering transformative potential for the healthcare sector.

Due to the tactical nature of the ABHA IDs, demand generation proves challenging, thus making it difficult to garner political salience. It is important to note that while there have been top-down attempts to build political salience, it is difficult to build bottom-up political and public interest in ABHA IDs, partly because the benefits are not immediately visible and there are concerns about data privacy and security. Despite adequate system capacity, the combination of low political salience and the aforementioned concerns, adds complexity to the task of generating momentum among stakeholders for the adoption and integration of ABHA IDs into the healthcare system. 

To overcome these challenges, it will be essential to identify and demonstrate some winning use cases that highlight the benefits of ABHA IDs. By showcasing successful applications that naturally lead to the creation and adoption of these IDs, the initiative can gain the necessary traction and support.

For a better understanding of the Governance Matrix, refer to this page on our website.

Let us know what you would like to hear more of, and stay tuned for our next poll!