India’s National Health Authority on Thursday announced monetary incentives for hospitals and medical diagnostic labs that create patients’ digital health records to enable, with patients’ consent, easy and quick access to their medical history.

The proposed incentive scheme will provide Rs 15 to diagnostic labs for each additional health record they create above a base level of 500 per month and Rs 20 to hospitals for each additional health record above a base level of 50 per month.

Digital health solutions providers that help manage hospital or lab information systems will receive 25 per cent of the incentive received by eligible hospitals or labs, the NHA said.

Over 297 million people now have Ayushman Bharat Health Accounts and government and private healthcare institutions have so far created about 50 million digital health records linked to a subset of those accounts.

“This incentive scheme will encourage more healthcare facilities to join the health mission,” the NHA’s chief executive officer, R.S. Sharma, said.

Hospitals with 10 or more beds and which also create a minimum of 50 health records per month and diagnostic labs that create a minimum 500 transactions per month will be eligible for the incentives scheme.

Single-doctor clinics and hospitals with fewer than 10 beds will not receive incentives.

The NHA has capped themaximum incentive for a hospital or a digital health solutions company at Rs 4 crore.