Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission: NHA seeks innovative solutions to build national ecosystem

The National Health Authority (NHA), the implementing agency for the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, has invited expressions of interest in developing innovative solutions that will help build a national digital health ecosystem.

This collaborative approach will not just help speed up the development but also help in making digital public goods available to public and/or private entities, the NHA said in a statement on Thursday.

Interested parties shall provide these solutions as a service at no cost to public and private entities, it said.

The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) aims to create a seamless online platform that will enable interoperability within the digital healthcare ecosystem. The mission has been conceptualized as a set of ‘digital building blocks’. Each building block is seen as a ‘digital public good’ that can be used by any entity in the digital health ecosystem and provides key capabilities that enable the ABDM vision, the statement said.

On the invitation for expressions of interest (EoI), NHA CEO R S Sharma said, “The ABDM endeavours to give impetus to open and interoperable standards in the digital health ecosystem. Such an undertaking will not only expedite universal health coverage goals in India, but also have ripple effects on the global health ecosystem.”

“However, such an ambition requires all hands on deck. In this regard, the National Health Authority is giving an open call inviting all interested parties to contribute to the Unified Health Interface (UHI), Health Claims Protocol (HCP), and various other open-source digital public goods being created to expand the digital health ecosystem.” Currently there are over 800 participants integrated with ABDM’s registries and enabling health data exchange through the Health Information Exchange & Consent Manager (HIE-CM).

The interested developers and parties can also make a significant contribution to the national digital health ecosystem development by sharing their EoI.

The NHA intends to develop a digital platform similar to the Unified Payment Interface or UPI) for interoperability between various digital solutions to facilitate various stakeholders using disparate solutions to communicate, according to the statement.

Interested parties are also invited to contribute through open-source software solutions that can be made available for use by various entities.

Those having any other idea for contributing to the cause of development of national digital health ecosystem may also reach out to it with specific proposal.

The NHA is keen to collaborate with all technology providers and individuals to build a digital health network that works for all. Those interested may submit their expressions of interest for their intended purpose with details to the NHA through email to [email protected], the statement said.