ABDM, done from the front desk rather than from a separate portal.
ABHA creation, care-context linking, consent requests and FHIR record push happen inside the patient record. Here is what the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission asks of a clinic, and which parts Saaro handles.
- ABHA at the desk
- Consent artefacts
- FHIR record push
ABDM is a set of registries and a way of sharing records with consent. It is not a central database.
The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, run by the National Health Authority, gives every person an ABHA (Ayushman Bharat Health Account), every doctor an entry in the Healthcare Professionals Registry, and every clinic an entry in the Health Facility Registry. Records stay where they were created. What ABDM adds is a federated way for a patient to see and share those records across providers.
A clinic that creates or holds records is a Health Information Provider, or HIP. A clinic or app that wants to read records created elsewhere is a Health Information User, or HIU. The same clinic can be both. Sharing happens only through a consent artefact that the patient grants in their ABHA app or another consent manager, naming the purpose, the record types, the date range and an expiry.
Records move as FHIR bundles in the profiles ABDM has published for India: OP consultation, prescription, diagnostic report, discharge summary, immunisation record, wellness record and health document record. The bundles are encrypted end to end between HIP and HIU; the ABDM gateway routes them but does not store the clinical content.
For a clinic, the practical obligations are: register the facility and its doctors, offer ABHA creation and linking to patients who want it, link each visit to the patient's ABHA as a care context, respond to consent requests within the artefact's terms, and push records in the correct FHIR format. ABDM tests software against these in a sandbox before granting production access, in the milestones it labels M1, M2 and M3.
Who does what: the clinic, the product, or both.
Product means Saaro does it in the software. Clinic means it is a registration or a decision only you can make. Both means the product does the work and the clinic confirms.
- Your clinic
Register the facility in the Health Facility Registry
The clinic applies for its HFR ID through the ABDM portal. Saaro's onboarding walks you through it and stores the ID against your workspace.
- Your clinic
Register doctors in the Healthcare Professionals Registry
Each doctor creates their HPR ID with their council registration. Saaro records the HPR ID on the doctor profile so it travels with every FHIR bundle.
- Saaro handles it
Offer ABHA creation and linking at the front desk
Saaro creates an ABHA from Aadhaar or mobile OTP, or links an existing one by ABHA number, ABHA address or Scan and Share QR, from inside the patient record.
- Shared
Link each visit as a care context
When a consultation is saved, Saaro offers to link it to the patient's ABHA. Linking needs the patient's approval, which is why the front desk confirms rather than the software assuming.
- Saaro handles it
Handle consent requests as an HIP
When a patient grants a consent artefact to another provider, Saaro receives the notification, checks the artefact's scope and expiry, and pushes only the matching records.
- Saaro handles it
Produce records in ABDM FHIR profiles
Prescriptions, OP consultation notes and diagnostic reports are generated as FHIR bundles in the published Indian profiles, with doctor, facility and patient identifiers filled in.
- Saaro handles it
Keep an audit of every ABDM transaction
Each ABHA creation, link, consent notification and record push is logged with timestamp, user and outcome. You can show the log to a patient or an auditor.
- Your clinic
Tell patients what linking means
Patients should know that a linked record becomes visible in their ABHA app and can be shared by them with other providers. Saaro gives the front desk a plain-language script; saying it is the clinic's job.
ABDM lives inside the record, so nobody has to remember to do it.
ABHA at registration
Create or link an ABHA while registering a new patient. Aadhaar OTP, mobile OTP, ABHA number or Scan and Share QR; the front desk picks whichever the patient has.
Learn moreOne-tap care-context link
After each visit, a prompt offers to link the consultation to the patient's ABHA. Approve, skip, or ask later; the choice is recorded either way.
Learn moreConsent inbox
Consent notifications from the ABDM gateway appear in one place with the requesting HIU, purpose, record types and expiry. Matching records are pushed automatically within the artefact's scope.
FHIR from structured rows
Because prescriptions are dictated into structured drug rows, the FHIR prescription bundle is generated from real data rather than from a scanned image.
Learn moreWorks across branches
One patient record across locations means one ABHA link, not one per branch. A consent request is answered with records from every location.
Learn morePatient told on WhatsApp
When a record is linked or shared under consent, the patient can receive a WhatsApp note from your clinic's number saying so, in Hindi or English.
Learn more
Consent and linking are rows in the timeline, not a separate portal.
Every ABDM event sits in the patient's timeline next to the visit it belongs to. The front desk can see at a glance whether a patient has an ABHA, which visits are linked, and whether any consent request is open.
That matters when a patient asks what was shared and with whom. The answer is on the screen, with a timestamp.
- ABHA number and address on the patient header
- Linked and unlinked visits marked in the timeline
- Consent artefacts with purpose, scope and expiry
- Every push logged with outcome
- 10:04ABHA linked via Scan and ShareLinked
- 10:31OP consultation linked as care contextLinked
- 10:32Rx #4821 pushed as FHIR bundlePushed
- Tue 2 SepConsent request from hiu name · Prescriptions · 6 monthsGranted
ABDM building block, what it asks of the clinic, and the Saaro control.
Building blocks as published by the National Health Authority. Certification status: abdm certification status.
| ABDM building block | What the clinic must do | Saaro control |
|---|---|---|
| ABHA | Offer creation and linking to patients who want it | Create or link from the patient record; Aadhaar OTP, mobile OTP, ABHA number or QR |
| Health Facility Registry | Register the clinic and keep details current | HFR ID stored on the workspace and stamped on every bundle |
| Healthcare Professionals Registry | Each doctor registers with council credentials | HPR ID on the doctor profile, included in FHIR practitioner resource |
| HIP role | Link visits as care contexts; answer consent requests | One-tap care-context link; consent inbox; scoped automatic push |
| HIU role | Request records only under a valid consent artefact | abdm hiu status |
| Consent manager | Respect purpose, record types, date range and expiry | Artefact parsed and enforced; expired or out-of-scope requests refused and logged |
| FHIR profiles | Produce records in the published Indian profiles | Prescription, OP consultation and diagnostic report bundles generated from structured data |
| Health locker | Do not alter what the patient holds | Saaro only pushes under consent; patient's locker contents are never read or changed |
| Audit | Be able to show what was shared and when | Per-patient ABDM log with timestamp, user and outcome |
Swipe to see every tier
Your questions answered.
The things clinics ask first.
Saaro implements the ABDM building blocks a clinic needs: ABHA creation and linking, care-context linking as an HIP, consent artefact handling and FHIR record push. Our current certification status with the National Health Authority is {{ABDM_CERTIFICATION_STATUS}}; ask on the demo call for the latest.
No. ABHA is voluntary for patients. Saaro offers creation and linking at the front desk for those who want it and works normally for those who do not.
An HIP (Health Information Provider) holds records and shares them under consent. An HIU (Health Information User) requests records created elsewhere. Your clinic is an HIP for records it creates; Saaro acts as your HIP. Fetching records from other providers is the HIU role, currently {{ABDM_HIU_STATUS}}.
No. ABDM is federated. Records stay with the provider that created them and move only under a patient's consent artefact, encrypted between HIP and HIU. The gateway routes but does not retain clinical content.
Saaro receives the consent notification, checks that it is valid and in scope, and pushes only the record types and date range named in the artefact. The push is logged in the patient's timeline, and you can see it.
You can use Saaro without them, but ABDM linking and record push need the clinic's HFR ID and each doctor's HPR ID. Onboarding walks you through both registrations.
Keep reading.
- FeaturesPatient recordsA record built from every visit, not a spreadsheet row. Prescriptions, reports, notes and follow-ups sit in one timeline, linked to the patient's ABHA if they have one.
- FeaturesVoice prescriptionSpeak it in English, Hindi, or your mix of both. Saaro structures the drug, dose and duration, flags interactions, files it to the record and sends it from your clinic's number.
- FeaturesMulti-clinicSaaro runs a clinic chain as one system: a shared patient index, doctors who move between branches, billing that stays separate per location, and a single view for the owner.
- TrustDPDP complianceConsent, notice, retention, erasure, breach reporting and grievance handling are obligations on the clinic. Here is what each one means for an OPD, and which parts the product does for you.
- TrustData residencySaaro Health is hosted in India, in hosting region. Databases, report files, backups and the WhatsApp messaging layer are all in-country. The one thing that crosses a border is the WhatsApp message itself, and we say so.
- TrustSecurityPatient data is encrypted in transit and at rest, seen only by the roles that need it, logged every time it is touched, and backed up so it can be restored. Here is the detail behind each of those claims.
See ABHA linking on a real patient flow.
Twenty minutes. Create an ABHA, link a visit, watch the consent inbox.