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ABDM for Hospitals: What ABHA, HFR and HPR Mean in Practice

· 3 min read
Ciyex HIMS Team
Ciyex HIMS Team
Hospital software, India

The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) is India's effort to connect patients, doctors, hospitals and health records through shared digital systems. According to the government's July 2026 summary, more than 104 crore health records are linked to more than 93 crore ABHA accounts. Here is what that means for a hospital.

The three registries you will hear about​

ABHA (Ayushman Bharat Health Account) is a patient's health account. It lets records from different providers be linked and, with the patient's consent, shared.

HFR (Health Facility Registry) is the national list of public and private health facilities, including hospitals, clinics, laboratories and pharmacies. Your facility registers here.

HPR (Healthcare Professionals Registry) is the national registry of doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals. Your clinicians register here as individuals.

Who holds the data?​

This is often misunderstood. The government says that records stay with whoever created them, such as the hospital, laboratory or insurer. There is no central server holding all the records. Records are shared across the network only when the patient consents, and that consent can be revoked.

So your hospital still needs to keep records properly and protect them.

What Scan and Share does​

With Scan and Share, a patient scans a QR code at a participating facility. This produces a digital queue token and sends their details from ABHA to the hospital's system, so staff need not type them again. A study by the Indian Institute of Health Management Research, cited by the government, found that waiting times fell from about one hour to 2 to 5 minutes. Results at your hospital will depend on your setup.

What the incentive scheme offers​

Under the Digital Health Incentive Scheme, hospitals and digital solution companies can earn incentives for creating interoperable digital health records. Rules and amounts can change, so check the current guidelines on the ABDM website before you plan around any figure.

What M1, M2 and M3 mean​

You may hear software vendors mention these milestones. They describe how far a product has integrated with ABDM:

  • M1: creating and verifying ABHA
  • M2: linking health records to ABHA, so that the hospital can share them
  • M3: requesting a patient's records from other providers, with consent

Every software product must first be tested in the ABDM sandbox and pass a security audit before going live. When you speak to a vendor, ask which milestones they have completed in production, and ask for proof.

How to get started​

  1. Register your facility on the Health Facility Registry
  2. Help your doctors and nurses register on the Healthcare Professionals Registry
  3. Ask your software vendor for its current ABDM status
  4. Train front desk staff to explain ABHA and consent to patients
  5. Check the incentive scheme's current rules

Where Ciyex HIMS stands​

We would rather be precise. In Ciyex HIMS today, an administrator can set up the hospital's ABDM gateway details, choose the sandbox or production environment, and check the connection. ABHA enrolment, verification and Scan and Share are in development. Ask us during a demo for the latest status of each workflow.

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