Edelweiss General Insurance partners with Health Ministry

The health ministry on Tuesday partnered with digital insurer Edelweiss General Insurance to help creating digital health IDs under Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission. Digital Health ID or ABHA (Ayushman Bharat Health Account) number is a 14-digit number that helps users to share and access their health records digitally with registered healthcare providers.

The company said that all its customers and the public at large can now generate their unique ABHA number through its website www.edelweissinsurance.com. One would need to log on to the website and follow the instructions on the ABHA microsite and have the health ID in few minutes. Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) can be generated for citizens of all age-groups, post a KYC verification, it added.

Interestingly, new customers of the insurance company will be prompted to get their ABHA at the time of policy issue. EGI said that it is also communicating with all its existing customers and encouraging them to get their ABHA numbers.

“Ayushman Bharat is creating a Digital Health Stack for India which will have a transformational impact on the healthcare delivery system in the country. This program will enable and empower the people of this country to access medical diagnosis, treatment, and financing from verified healthcare providers and payors, seamlessly across the country,” Shanai Ghosh, executive director & CEO, Edelweiss General Insurance, said.

Through ABHA, users can create their digital health records. While it is optional, having an ABHA number helps one to access and share their personal health records digitally, allowing them to receive their digital lab reports, diagnosis, prescriptions, etc., from ABDM registered healthcare providers and doctors anywhere in the country in a paperless manner.

The National Health Authority (NHA) is the apex body responsible for implementing this program under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission. The health ministry earlier in May launched a revamped Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) mobile application under its flagship scheme of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission. According to the data available with the ministry, a total of 22,97,64,327 ABHA numbers have been created till July 15, 2022.

The aim of the government to launch ABDM was to establish National Digital Health ecosystem by creating an online platform, enabling interoperability of health data so as to create longitudinal electronic health record (EHR) of citizens.

There are three key registries under ABDM which are ABHA number/Health ID, Health Professional Registry (HPR), Health Facility Registry (HFR) and digital infrastructure for data exchange. The government has said that these have been created to enable data interoperability across digital health platforms. Business Today