The National Health Authority (NHA) has released a consultation paper on ‘Operationalising Unified Health Interface (UHI) in India’ that outlines the market rules that will govern the UHI Network. UHI is envisioned as a foundational layer of the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) and aims to enable interoperability in health services in India through open protocols.

The Consultation Paper focuses on the different elements of UHI and the market rules that will govern them. These include guidelines that will govern the way search & discovery will take place in a fair and transparent manner, payment & settlement processes, rules around cancellation & rescheduling, grievance redressal mechanism, and more. Each section has specific open questions where feedback from stakeholders is sought. Comments from the public are invited to ensure that the UHI Network is designed and operationalised in a collaborative and consultative manner.

Speaking about the importance of this consultation paper, Dr. R. S. Sharma, CEO, National Health Authority, stated, “Unified Health Interface will enable interoperability of health services in India. Since the development of UHI involves several stakeholders, it is important to clearly define how different elements will be operationalised in a fair, efficient and transparent manner. We urge the stakeholders to share their valued comments and play a role in shaping India’s digital healthcare ecosystem. This stakeholder participation can help avoid roadblocks in implementation, and help make adoption faster and easier.”

Full text of the consultation paper is available for download on ABDM’s website at https://abdm.gov.in/publications. Comments and feedback can be submitted here - https://abdm.gov.in/operationalising-uhi-consultation-form till Friday, 13th January 2023.