ISB Study Finds NABH Digital Health StandardsAre Delivering Measurable Gains in Indian Hospitals
Hyderabad : A new study by the Max Institute of Healthcare Management at the Indian School of Business (ISB) finds that hospitals adopting NABH’s Digital Health Standards (DHS) have achieved substantial improvements in operational efficiency, clinical decision-making, and overall digital maturity.
The study, published as a white paper titled ‘Post-Adoption Value of NABH Digital Health Standards: A Multi-Hospital Assessment in India,’ evaluates the real-world impact of digital accreditation across 20 DHS-certified hospitals representing Silver, Gold, and Platinum certification levels. The sample was intentionally weighted toward small and medium hospitals and non-metro locations to surface the barriers and enablers faced by more resource-constrained facilities. The research draws on qualitative interviews with 80 senior stakeholders across hospital leadership, quality, IT, operations, and clinical teams, along with a quantitative survey.
Qualitative interviews and survey responses indicated that hospitals adopt DHS primarily to improve patient care quality (98.1%) and operations efficiency (88.5%), with top-down hospital leadership driving 76.9% of adoption decisions. After certification, hospitals reported marked gains in digital maturity, with the average score rising from 3.42 to 4.35 on a five-point scale. System integration improved from 3.31 to 4.35, while the use of digital records in clinical decision-making increased from 3.00 to 4.37. Strong gains were also reported in data privacy and documentation quality (4.56 each), operational efficiency (4.38), and interoperability (4.29), with the overall value of DHS rated at 4.62 on 5. One hospital recorded reduced revenue leakage from 33% to 7%.
The study highlights that successful implementation depends equally on people and technology. Staff training (85.7%) and workflow redesign (65.4%) emerged as the most demanding implementation efforts. Hospital experiences varied more by facility size, baseline digital maturity, and leadership commitment than by geographic location.
The white paper was unveiled at the Indian School of Business (ISB) by Mr. Ajay Seth, Chairperson of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), in the presence of Mr. Chakravarthy Kannan, Secretary General of the Quality Council of India and CEO (I/C) of NABH; Mr. Rizwan Koita, Chairperson, NABH; Professor Sarang Deo, Executive Director of ISB’s Max Institute of Healthcare Management; Avinash Pandey, Group Leader, NABH Digital Health and Sandeep Rath, Assistant Professor of Operations Management, ISB, along with other dignitaries.
Speaking at the launch of the white paper, Mr. Ajay Seth, Chairperson, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), emphasised that digital health standards must serve as a foundation for improving the availability, accessibility, and affordability of healthcare, rather than remaining a compliance exercise. He said that interoperable, open digital systems and standardised, high-quality data can enable better clinical and financial decision-making, improve efficiency and productivity, and create a stronger evidence base for healthcare delivery. He also highlighted the need for collaborative partnerships among regulators, healthcare providers, academia, and quality institutions to support hospitals of all sizes, foster transparency and trust, and ensure that digital transformation delivers meaningful improvements across India’s healthcare ecosystem.
Mr. Rizwan Koita, Chairperson, NABH, underlined that “Digital health & AI have become an essential part of strengthening healthcare delivery. This joint study by NABH and the Indian School of Business provides valuable insights into how adoption of digital health standards can support hospitals in improving processes, efficiency, quality and patient care. This report will help hospitals better assess the practical value of digital adoption and encourage more hospitals to take meaningful steps towards building stronger, more connected and patient-centric systems.”
Sandeep Rath, lead author and Assistant Professor of Operations Management at ISB, said, “India’s healthcare system is digitising fast, and standards like DHS keep that transition systematic rather than fragmented. The gains are already measurable: better documentation, shorter discharge and waiting times, and less revenue leakage. These match what hospitals say drove them to adopt the standards, namely patient safety and operational improvement. Strong hospital leadership remains essential to push through workflow redesign and adoption. This digital foundation will underpin everything that follows, from analytics to AI. At ISB, we are committed to building rigorous evidence for a future-ready healthcare delivery system.”
With India’s healthcare system digitalising rapidly, this study offers some of the first hospital-grounded evidence of what that shift looks like on the ground. The report concludes that NABH DHS is positioned to serve as a practical, long-term framework for sustained organisational change rather than a one-time compliance exercise.
