The National Health Authority on Tuesday announced that funds will be allocated to states and Union Territories for implementation of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) based on their performance in registering healthcare professionals and health facilities.?

The funds will allocated on their performance in recording data in the Health Facility Registry (HFR) and Healthcare Professionals Registry (HPR), which it said, were the key pillars of ABDM.?

This performance-based fund allocation will help in structured implementation of ABDM at the ?state and UT level, with verified entries strengthening the key national registries being built under the scheme, an NHA statement said.

According to NHA's earlier guidelines, Rs 500 crores had been demarcated for setting up of ABDM offices at state and UT level over a period of five years (FY 2021-22 to FY 2025-26).?Twenty percent of these funds, -- Rs 100 crores were earmarked as incentive-based funds, the statement said.

Taking this thought further, the NHA decided to extend the current fund allocation based on the performance of respective states and UTs in terms of number of entities (healthcare professionals like doctors, nurses etc and health facilities like hospitals, clinics) that they register and verify within a stipulated period, the statement said.

Commenting on this, Dr R S Sharma, CEO, NHA said the Health Facility Registry (HFR) and Healthcare Professionals Registry (HPR) are the key pillars of ABDM.?"With enthusiastic support from the states and UTs in registering more healthcare professionals and health facilities, we can take the benefits of digital health services to the masses.?

"The respective bodies at states and UTs are also responsible for verification of the details entered during registration. Their support shall help build national-level registries of healthcare professionals and health facilities that can be single source of truth for individuals seeking health services," Dr Sharma said.?

The population of Health Facility Registry (HFR) and Healthcare Professionals Registry (HPR) is crucial to achieve the intended objective of ABDM.?Introduction of performance-based funding to states and??UTs is an initiative in this direction, the statement said.

In accordance, the NHA has defined parameters for fund allocation as Rs 100 for each verified entries in HFR and HPR till December 31, 2022, Rs 50 for each verified entries in HFR and HPR between January 1, 2023 till March 31, 2023, the statement said.

No funds will be allocated for entries verified in HFR and HPR after March 31, 2023 and states and UTs are at liberty to use these funds for deploying human resources full time or part time for ABDM, the statement said.

(With PTI inputs)