Goal
Understand what ABDM and NABH expect from a hospital's digital systems, and see which DevOrbital HMS workflows are designed to help you prepare.
In short
ABDM concerns how a hospital identifies patients with ABHA and exchanges health records with consent. NABH concerns the quality and safety of care, including documentation, medication and information management. DevOrbital HMS is designed to help you prepare for both: an ABDM-ready add-on module, MRD controls, role-based access and a full audit trail. No software can accredit a hospital by itself.
The challenge
ABHA, HFR, HPR, HIP, HIU and consent artefacts arrive together, and it is not obvious which a hospital must do first. Teams often postpone the work because the starting point is unclear.
Accreditation standards cover many chapters of hospital functioning. Documents, registers and evidence have to be maintained daily, not assembled in the weeks before an assessment.
Paper files and unstructured documents cannot easily be linked to a patient's ABHA or shared with consent. Digital records have to be organised before they can be exchanged.
Who changed a record, who approved a purchase, who signed a consent: assessors may ask, and the answer is rarely in one place.
Recommended systems
Outcomes
You know which parts of your patient registration, records and consent processes need to be digital before ABHA-linked exchange makes sense.
Because notes, approvals and changes are captured as work happens, the evidence an assessor asks for already exists.
Role and module-level permissions, org-level data isolation and an audit trail support the careful handling that both quality standards and data protection law expect.
Completeness tracking and retention registers keep records in order continuously, instead of in a rush before an assessment.
Rollout
Check your hospital's presence in the Healthcare Facility Registry (HFR) and that your doctors and nurses are in the Healthcare Professionals Registry (HPR).
Run registration, OPD, IPD and billing digitally so every patient has a UHID and a structured record.
Enable the ABDM-ready add-on so ABHA creation, verification and linking can be part of registration, scoped per engagement.
Turn on MRD completeness tracking, define roles and permissions, and review the audit trail routinely.
Work with your quality team to match system records to the NABH chapters your hospital is pursuing.
In practice
Illustrative scenario · not a customer story
Preparing for an assessment without a paper chase
Quality coordinator
The quality coordinator is preparing for a NABH-related review and asks the records team for a sample of discharged files. The MRD completeness status shows which are ready for archival sign-off and which still miss a summary. For a consent query, she opens the OT record and finds the signed form and checklist. A question about a corrected entry is answered from the audit trail. The team finishes the work in days rather than weeks. This is an illustrative composite, not a real hospital, and it does not imply any accreditation outcome.
The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) is India's national digital health ecosystem, run by the National Health Authority. It is built around a few ideas. Citizens can create a 14-digit ABHA (Ayushman Bharat Health Account) number. Healthcare facilities are listed in the Healthcare Facility Registry (HFR), and doctors and other professionals in the Healthcare Professionals Registry (HPR). Health records move between providers only with the patient's consent.
For software, ABDM integration is usually described in three milestones. M1 covers creating and verifying ABHA. M2 covers acting as a Health Information Provider (HIP) by linking care contexts and health records to a patient's ABHA. M3 covers acting as a Health Information User (HIU), requesting a patient's records with consent. We explain them in our ABDM and ABHA guide for hospitals. DevOrbital HMS offers the ABDM integration module as an ABDM-ready add-on; we do not claim milestone certification here, and you should confirm current requirements on the official ABDM sites.
The National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers (NABH) publishes accreditation standards for hospitals. The 6th edition took effect on 1 January 2025 and is organised into ten chapters, including Care of Patients, Medication Management, Patient Rights and Education, Information Management System and Facility Management and Safety. NABH also has separate Digital Health Standards that look at how hospitals use digital systems, from clinical workflows to cybersecurity and data privacy.
Software does not accredit a hospital, but it affects the evidence you can produce. Structured notes in IPD management, controlled records in MRD and a full audit trail all support the documentation that assessors review. Our article on NABH and hospital software goes chapter by chapter. DevOrbital HMS is designed to help you prepare; the accreditation decision rests with NABH.
Start with identity and records. If patients are registered once with a UHID, and their OPD, IPD, lab and billing data live in one record, you have the foundation for both ABDM exchange and quality documentation. Duplicate UHIDs are a common obstacle, so the MRD merge queue is worth using early.
Then add controls: roles and permissions, audit trail review and completeness tracking. Consider the ABDM-ready add-on when your registration and records processes are stable. Data protection also matters; our DPDP Act guide for hospitals summarises the issues. For the digitisation groundwork, see go paperless and our security overview.
FAQ
We offer an ABDM-ready add-on module. We do not state milestone certification on this page. The exact ABDM capabilities enabled for a hospital are scoped per engagement, and you should verify requirements with the National Health Authority.
M1 is creating and verifying an ABHA. M2 is acting as a Health Information Provider by linking records to the patient's ABHA. M3 is acting as a Health Information User by requesting records with patient consent. M1 and M2 are the foundational steps.
No software can do that. NABH assesses your hospital's processes and care. DevOrbital HMS is designed to help you prepare with structured records, access control and an audit trail.
HFR is the Healthcare Facility Registry, a directory of health facilities. HPR is the Healthcare Professionals Registry, a directory of verified professionals. Both are part of ABDM and are managed through the official ABDM portals.
They are separate. ABDM concerns national digital health exchange, while NABH concerns accreditation. However, NABH's digital emphasis makes well-structured electronic records useful for both.
Most hospitals start with registration, OPD and IPD so records are structured, then add MRD controls and the ABDM-ready add-on. The right order depends on your current systems.
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Read this guideTell us about your facility and we will walk you through the modules that fit — one department or the whole hospital.
