EMR software in India: EMR, EHR and clinic software, explained
What EMR software is, how it differs from an EHR and from clinic or hospital management software, what ABDM asks of it, and how to choose one in India.
Doctors in India searching for software meet four terms that overlap: EMR, EHR, clinic management software and hospital management software. Vendors use them loosely. This article sets out what each one means, what EMR software has to do in an Indian practice, what ABDM asks of it, and how to compare systems.
EMR, EHR, clinic software and HMS
EMR (electronic medical record). The patient’s chart at one practice: visits, the doctor’s notes, diagnoses, prescriptions, test results, allergies and documents. It replaces the paper file.
EHR (electronic health record). A record meant to follow the patient across clinics, labs and hospitals. In India this is what the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) is building: each provider keeps its own EMR, links the patient to their ABHA number, and shares records with the patient’s consent.
Clinic management software. The EMR plus the front desk, appointments, billing, the pharmacy and reports. For most Indian clinics this is what they actually need, because the visit and the bill happen together.
Hospital management software (HMS or HMIS). All of the above plus admissions, beds, nursing, the theatre, insurance claims and discharge.
When comparing vendors, ask which of the four you are being shown. A good EMR with no billing sends the clinic back to a second program at the counter, and a billing program with a notes box is not an EMR.
What EMR software has to do
Write the record quickly
Doctors abandon EMRs that slow them down. Look for templates for common visits, a medicine search that knows the brands in your area and sensible default doses, diagnoses coded in ICD-10 without hunting for the code, and history on one screen. Some systems now draft the note from the recorded consultation for the doctor to correct and sign. Ask which languages that drafting understands, since many consults mix English with Hindi or Tamil.
Keep the structure of your specialty
A record is only useful later if it can be searched. An ophthalmology EMR should hold vision, refraction and pressure for each eye; an ENT EMR findings for each ear and each side of the nose; a physiotherapy EMR pain scores and exercises by session. Free text cannot be charted over five years.
Keep the record honest
Notes once signed should not be silently edited. A correction should be an addendum with who wrote it and when, and a visit entered after the fact should say so. This protects the doctor as much as the patient.
Connect to the rest of the clinic
The prescription should reach the pharmacy, the lab order the lab, and the result the chart, without anyone retyping. The bill should come from the same visit.
Reach the patient
Patients increasingly expect their prescription, report and bill on their phone. An EMR that can send the visit summary and the prescription to the patient saves the clinic phone calls and lost paper.
What ABDM asks of an EMR
ABDM does not require a particular vendor, but it sets the standards an EMR should meet:
- ABHA linking. Each patient’s record can be linked to their ABHA number (see what an ABHA number is).
- FHIR R4 records. Clinical records are kept or exported in FHIR R4, the format ABDM exchanges.
- Consent-based sharing. Records leave the clinic through the ABDM gateway only when the patient consents.
- Facility registration. The clinic is registered in the Health Facility Registry and the doctors in the Healthcare Professionals Registry.
Ask each vendor which of these work today for a facility like yours, and which are planned.
How to choose EMR software in India
- Start from your specialty. Ask to see your own kind of visit charted, not a generic demo.
- Bring a real day. Ten patients from last week, with their prescriptions and bills, will show more than a slide deck.
- Count the clicks for the visit you see most often.
- Check the language your front desk and your patients read.
- Ask how your data comes in (your patient register and stock) and how it goes out if you leave.
- Ask who trains your staff, and how long a clinic like yours takes to go live.
Where 92health fits
92health is an EMR with clinic and hospital management built around it, used by clinics, hospitals, pharmacies, labs and optical shops in India. It has specialty workspaces for general practice, ophthalmology, ENT and physiotherapy, and the record underneath is shared with the pharmacy, the lab and the hospital side. Notes can be drafted from the recorded consult in English, Hindi or Tamil, diagnoses carry ICD-10 codes, patient records link to ABHA numbers and clinical records are kept in FHIR R4. Sharing records through the ABDM gateway is switched on for each facility.
It runs in the browser, for a single clinic in Salem or a hospital in Visakhapatnam alike. To see it on your own specialty, book a demo.
Common questions
- What is EMR software?
- An electronic medical record (EMR) is the digital version of a patient's chart at one practice: visits, notes, diagnoses, prescriptions, results and allergies. EMR software is the system doctors and staff use to write and read that chart.
- What is the difference between an EMR and an EHR?
- An EMR is the record held by one clinic or hospital. An electronic health record (EHR) is meant to follow the patient across providers. In India the bridge between them is ABDM: a clinic's EMR links each patient to their ABHA number and can share records, with the patient's consent, through the ABDM gateway.
- Is EMR software mandatory in India?
- There is no general rule that every clinic must use EMR software. Clinical records still have to be kept and retained, and ABDM, insurers and state schemes increasingly expect records that can be shared in a standard format, which in practice means software.
- What does ABDM compliance mean for an EMR?
- At a minimum: linking patients to their ABHA number, keeping clinical records in FHIR R4, the format ABDM exchanges, and sharing records through the ABDM gateway only with the patient's consent. Ask a vendor which of these are live for your facility and which are planned.
- Do specialists need a different EMR from general practitioners?
- The record underneath is the same, but the screens are not. An ophthalmologist charts by eye, an ENT surgeon by ear, nose and throat, a physiotherapist by session. A general EMR with free-text boxes loses the structure that makes a specialist's record searchable.
- Is 92health an EMR or an EHR?
- Yes. 92health is an electronic medical record for clinics and hospitals: patient registration with a UID, the OPD token queue, vitals and nurse work-up, consultation notes drafted from the consult audio and signed by the doctor, e-prescriptions, lab orders and results, visit summaries, and a longitudinal chart per patient. It is an EHR in the other sense too: every patient can hold that record themselves and share it across institutions.
- Which kinds of organisation run on 92health?
- Clinics and polyclinics, eye hospitals, pharmacies (standalone or attached to a clinic), diagnostic labs, optical shops and lens-fitting labs, physiotherapy practices, gyms, schools, sports clubs, TPAs and insurers, and audit firms. Each type gets its own workspace, and an attached pharmacy or optical shop shares the clinic's patient roster.
- Does 92health include pharmacy software?
- Yes. A drug master with brand SKUs, FIFO batch inventory with expiry tracking, purchase orders and goods receipts, counter billing in three keystrokes, Schedule H and H1 registers, GST tax invoices or bills of supply per store, and prescriptions that arrive from the consult room without being retyped.
- Is 92health built for eye hospitals?
- Yes. Eye hospitals in Chennai run their OPD on it: refraction and pre-test benches, dilation tracking, A-scan biometry with an IOL power per lens, surgery counselling and packages, an IOL stock register read from box labels, operation records, post-op medication sets and bilingual discharge summaries.
- What does the AI in 92health actually do?
- An ambient scribe drafts the SOAP note from the consult audio, including consults that move between English, Tamil and Hindi, and the doctor signs it. Institutional agents watch queues, stock, revenue and compliance against the institution's own baselines and propose changes with their evidence attached. People decide. No agent writes an order.
- Is 92health ABDM compliant?
- Patient records link to ABHA numbers, clinical records are kept in FHIR R4, the format ABDM exchanges, and Aadhaar numbers are hashed at rest and redacted from logs. Sharing records through the ABDM gateway is switched on per facility.
- Can patients use 92health themselves?
- Yes. A patient books and pays from their own phone, checks in by scanning the clinic's QR code, reads prescriptions, visit summaries and bills in one place, and can keep their own record of wearable data, lab reports, diet, mood and family profiles, with what each clinic may see decided by consent.
- Where is 92health built?
- In Chennai, by 92 Digital Health and AI Technologies India Pvt Ltd, with the clinics, pharmacies and labs it runs in. The interface ships in English, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi.
This article is general information for clinics, hospitals, pharmacies and optical shops in India, as of the date it was published or updated. It is not legal, tax or accounting advice. Due dates, rates and rules change by notification and some differ between states; confirm anything that matters with your chartered accountant or legal adviser.