Concept explainer
National digital health
Describes how Pensieve works with the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, from the ABHA number at registration to consent-led record sharing under the hospital's registration.
Pensieve creates or verifies a patient's ABHA with the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, links the hospital's records to it and shares them under the patient's consent. This page lists what passes between Pensieve and ABDM, the tool that owns each exchange, and how the hospital's own registration is set up.
What flows
Every exchange with ABDM is made from the platform, and each belongs to the tool whose data it carries. Gate takes the ABHA, Atlas holds the record and the patient's consents, Nexus Manager holds the site's facility identity and Vault carries the ABHA onto claims.
| Exchange | Direction | Standard | Owning tool |
|---|---|---|---|
| ABHA creation or verification | Out from the platform at registration, with ABDM's answer returned | ABDM's interface, carrying the 14-digit ABHA number and the ABHA address | Gate, with the ABHA held on the record in Atlas |
| Record linking | Out of Pensieve | ABDM's interface, keyed on the patient's ABHA | Atlas |
| Consent artefact | Out to the ABDM consent manager | The ABDM consent artefact | Atlas |
| Record sharing | Out of Pensieve to the requesting party, under a granted consent | FHIR R4 bundles to the NRCeS profiles, sealed for the requesting party | Atlas, with the integration engine sending |
| The ABHA on a claim | Out to the National Health Claims Exchange | A FHIR R4 claim bundle that references the patient by ABHA number | Vault |
Under the hospital's registration
The ABDM registration is the hospital's own, and Pensieve makes each ABDM call in the hospital's name. Pensieve claims no ABDM certification of its own.
An operator sets up the link in Westron as a direct connection of the ABDM category, holding the hospital's ABDM participant code. The platform calls ABDM over that connection, apart from the bridge, presenting the hospital's client credentials. The rules for storing and reading those credentials are in authentication between systems.
The site's Health Facility Registry identifier, which names the facility to ABDM, sits on the site record in Nexus Manager. The same record notes whether the site takes part in ABDM and the date it registered.
The ABHA at registration
Gate takes a patient's ABHA number and ABHA address as the patient is registered, following registering a patient. The desk creates an ABHA with ABDM for a patient who has none, or verifies the one the patient brings. The number must read as 14 digits before anything is saved.
| Identifier | What it holds | Once recorded |
|---|---|---|
| ABHA number | The patient's 14-digit number in ABDM | Fixed once written |
| ABHA address | The readable handle the patient uses across ABDM | Open to change, with each change written to the audit trail |
Each ABHA number belongs to a single record across every hospital that runs Pensieve. A registration that presents a number already held on a record is refused, and the desk is told to search for that record. A patient who moves between hospitals therefore keeps one history.
Staff can also find a record by ABHA number, as an exact match. Vault names the patient on every claims exchange bundle by the same number, as insurers and claims describes. The other identifiers a record carries are listed in patient identifiers, and the desk enters the ABHA number and address as register a new patient shows.
The ABHA stays out of web addresses, logs and events
Pensieve handles the ABHA number as classified data. It is held on the record and travels only in the exchanges that need it.
Sharing under the patient's consent
Pensieve links the records the hospital holds for a patient to that patient's ABHA, so a request made through ABDM can find them.
The consent artefact is ABDM's record of a patient's consent: what may be shared, with whom, for what purpose and until when. Its source is the consent held on the patient's record in Pensieve, set out in consent and directives.
A request reaches Pensieve through the consent manager. Pensieve sends the records only once a granted consent covers them, under the checks in governance of integrated data.
The records travel as FHIR R4 bundles built to the NRCeS profiles, each sealed for the requesting party. The two sides derive a shared key by elliptic-curve key agreement, and each bundle is encrypted under that key with AES-256-GCM.
Common confusions
Whose ABDM registration do the calls go out under?
The hospital holds it. Every ABDM call Pensieve makes goes out under the hospital's registration, participant code and client credentials.
Does the ABHA replace the Pensieve patient number?
The record keeps its Pensieve patient number, which finds it at every hospital that runs Pensieve. The ABHA is held on the record as the number ABDM and the claims exchange know the patient by, as patient identifiers lists.
Is the consent ABDM holds a second copy to keep in step?
The hospital keeps one consent, on the patient's record in Pensieve. The consent manager holds the artefact made from it for ABDM's side of the exchange.
Read how the ABHA travels on a claim in insurers and claims, and how the hospital's ABDM credentials are held in authentication between systems.