National Health Authority launches digital academy to fast-track electronic health records push

The Union government has directed districts to fund specialized training for public hospital staff as NHA launches its new academy to resolve implementation bottlenecks in adopting digital health records.

The National Health Authority (NHA), which implements the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), has launched digital health courses through its new digital academy to fast-track the integration of electronic medical records and hospital information systems nationwide, according to two officials and a government document seen by Mint. The initiative marks a first for the agency.

Under the plan, the union government has directed district magistrates to fund specialized training for government hospital administrators and medical officers to adopt ABDM standards. To deliver this, the NHA has partnered with the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers (NABH) and the Centre for Health, Applied Knowledge and Research Autonomy (CHAKRA). They will run two paid certificate courses in October covering digital health toolkits and compliance standards, while private hospitals will self-fund their participation.

ABDM is the central government’s flagship digital public infrastructure initiative, designed to connect hospitals, clinics, diagnostic laboratories, and pharmacies into an interoperable national network through unified patient identifiers, known as Ayushman Bharat Health Accounts (ABHA). As of September 2026, over 974.5 million ABHA IDs have been created across India under this digital health ecosystem.

According to official NHA dashboard data, over 1.17 billion digital health records are linked to these patient IDs across more than 575,000 enrolled healthcare centres. However, actual data flow remains uneven: while public hospitals account for the vast majority of linked files, private clinics have yet to actively participate at scale.

Globally, digitizing health records is seen as vital for eliminating paper trails, curbing diagnostic duplication, and ensuring continuity of care across diverse healthcare providers.

The NHA wrote in a letter to the states and Union territories, “NHA has launched NHA Digital Academy with the objective of developing skills of all the stakeholders of the healthcare ecosystem and ensuring that the overall workforce is ready for the future of healthcare. The academy provides free and paid courses relevant for stakeholders of the healthcare ecosystem.”

Tackling bottlenecks

The initiative comes as healthcare institutions face implementation bottlenecks during the transition to standards-based digital health systems. Key friction points include high upfront software integration costs, complex legacy system interoperability, and clinician resistance to slower dual-entry workflows. Facilities also face technical hurdles in aligning internal IT architectures with national data privacy and consent-management standards.

The communication noted that structured guidance is necessary to help facilities plan, adopt, and sustain systems such as hospital information systems (HIS) and electronic medical records (EMR).

According to the directive, district administrations must build operational capacity across public healthcare institutions. The NHA emphasized that "the certificate courses by NABH are relevant for the facilities aiming to be digitized and can support faster implementation of the digital infrastructure”.

The two online NABH courses scheduled for October 2026 comprise a digital health toolkit and digital health standards for hospitals, aimed at providing hospital administrators and IT personnel with structured roadmaps for system implementation, digital maturity diagnostics, and alignment with national hospital accreditation standards. The curriculum covers implementation lifecycles, digital readiness assessments, hospital certification frameworks, and data protection rules.

The NHA directed district authorities to nominate chief medical officers, chief medical officers of health, hospital administrators, health management information system managers, and compliance heads for the programs. It said district administrations may sponsor candidates from government facilities, while personnel from private facilities must bear their own costs.

In addition to these technical modules, the NHA has offered open-access baseline courses on ABDM and the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) on its learning portal. The authority asked district administrations to encourage local healthcare personnel to complete these foundational courses, setting a deadline of 15 September 2026 for states to submit nominations for the paid certifications to their respective NHA state coordinators.

‘A significant step’

Public health experts welcomed the move, stressing that building capacity and creating a level playing field between public and private healthcare providers will be essential for success.

Dr Alexander Thomas, founder and patron of the Association of Healthcare Providers in India (AHPI), called the initiative a significant step toward strengthening the country's digital healthcare ecosystem. He noted that the NHA's partnership with NABH would speed up the adoption of standardized electronic medical records and hospital information systems, encouraging staff to upskill and ultimately improving patient outcomes.

Dr Thomas, who was previously associated with NABH, described it as a credible partner with a strong track record in driving compliance, adding that "collaboration among policymakers, accreditation bodies, healthcare institutions and professional organizations will be essential to ensure the successful implementation of these reforms”.

Queries sent to the Union health and family welfare ministry and NHA remained unanswered at the time of publishing.

About the Author

Priyanka Sharma is a journalist at Mint, where she covers the Union Ministry of Health and the pharmaceutical industry. Her work focuses on explaining government policies and how they impact healthcare and the medicine market in India. With 12 years of experience in journalism, she has built a reputation for providing clear and honest news on important health topics that affect the entire country.<br><br>Her educational background includes a journalism degree from the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) and specialized training in public health from the Public Health Foundation of India. Before her current role at Mint, Priyanka worked with India Today, The Pioneer, and ANI. She also served as a lead consultant for the National Health Authority, which gave her firsthand knowledge of how the government manages large-scale health programmes.<br><br>Priyanka is based in New Delhi and is an avid traveller who loves visiting the mountains. She has a great interest in regional flavours, particularly South Indian food.