The most common mistake a clinic owner makes about NABH accreditation is reading the wrong rulebook. Search for it and you land on the hospital standards, the 50-bed SHCO programme or the entry-level hospital certification, decide the whole thing is built for someone with an ICU, and close the tab.
NABH has run a separate programme for clinics since January 2011, written for small facilities with OPD only and no inpatients. The current version is the Allopathic Clinics standard, 2nd Edition, June 2023.
Which programme you are in
Programme | Who it is for | Edition in force |
|---|---|---|
Allopathic Clinics | Clinics, polyclinics, dispensaries, day care clinics | 2nd Edition, June 2023 |
SHCO | Hospitals, day care, speciality and super speciality centres up to 50 beds. Polyclinics and diagnostic centres excluded | 3rd Edition |
Entry-Level Certification | Hospitals providing allopathic services | 2nd Edition |
Hospitals (HCO) | Larger hospitals | 6th Edition |
NABH's own definitions decide which row you sit in. A clinic is "a Single Doctor running healthcare facility (other than OPD of a hospital) providing patient care services". A polyclinic offers two or more specialities working in cooperation and sharing facilities. A dispensary is a clinic where medicine is dispensed as well as prescribed. A day care clinic has admitting beds for a limited period, barring an overnight stay. A clinic may add diagnostic, therapeutic and support services, and the second edition also brought in standalone dermatology, dialysis and diabetes facilities.
Note what is not on that list: there is no entry-level rung for clinics. The entry-level programme is a hospital programme. For a clinic it is the full clinic accreditation or nothing.
What the standard contains
The 2nd Edition has ten chapters plus three speciality-specific chapters, holding 40 standards and 174 objective elements. Each objective element is something an assessor can look at and mark. That structure is why accreditation is mostly a documentation exercise for a clinic that is already practising sensibly: the care you give may be fine, but if there is no written procedure, no signed consent format, no register of the thing you do every day, the objective element is not met.
The steps, and what each one asks of you
Implement first, apply second. NABH asks a clinic to have the standards in place for at least three months before it applies. The standards and the guidebook are free downloads from nabh.co, so the honest starting point is to read the 174 objective elements and mark where you stand.
Apply on the portal. The application goes with three things: the prescribed application fee, the Self-Assessment Toolkit, and your quality or clinic manual with the policies and procedures the standards require. You must apply for everything you do at that address. NABH does not accredit part of a clinic.
Pay the annual fee. After NABH scrutinises the application, the annual fee for four years is paid in one go, before assessment.
Document review, then the visit. NABH and the appointed assessor review what you uploaded and come back with gaps to close. The on-site assessment for a clinic or dispensary is one assessor for one day; for a polyclinic or a clinic with additional services it is two man-days.
The decision, and then four years of upkeep. The certificate is valid for four years, with a midterm surveillance assessment at 21 to 24 months and a renewal application due at least six months before expiry. NABH can also make an unannounced visit if a serious incident or complaint is reported. If a decision goes against you, an appeal goes to the Chairman, NABH within 30 days.
The fees, as published
NABH publishes clinic fees, which is more than can be said for most things in this area.
For a clinic or dispensary: application fee ₹5,000 and annual fee ₹15,000, both plus 18% GST. For a clinic or dispensary with additional services, or a polyclinic: ₹10,000 and ₹40,000, both plus 18% GST. Surveillance is one man-day in both cases. Where your scope of services is wider, NABH says proportionately more man-days and fees may be charged.
One thing to confirm before you budget: the fee table calls ₹15,000 an "Annual Fee (to be paid one time for 4 years)", while the process section says the clinic submits "the annual fee of four years at one time". Those read differently, and it is a fair question to put to the NABH secretariat in writing before you apply. The real cost of accreditation is not the fee anyway. It is the staff time to write, implement and maintain the documentation, and the small fixes an assessment throws up.
Be clear-eyed about what it buys you
The strongest commercial argument usually made for accreditation is Ayushman Bharat. Check the detail before you count on it. NABH's AB PM-JAY Quality Certification has three levels: Bronze needs a minimum of 10 operational beds, Silver needs PM-JAY empanelment plus NABH entry-level certification, and Gold needs empanelment plus full NABH or NQAS accreditation. All three routes are built around beds and hospital programmes. A 1-3 doctor OPD clinic does not have a door into that scheme through clinic accreditation.
What clinic accreditation does give you is a defensible quality system: written procedures your locum can follow, consent and records practices that hold up when a complaint arrives, and a mark that patients and corporate tie-ups recognise. If you are chasing empanelment specifically, ask the scheme what it requires before you spend on accreditation.
Where the documentation load sits
Look at the 174 objective elements and a pattern shows up. A large share are about records: is the assessment documented, is the care plan recorded, is consent on file, is the prescription complete and legible, can you produce the register for this activity, who has access to patient information.
That part sits squarely in clinic software, and it is the only part that does. No system makes a clinic accredited, no vendor can promise a certificate, and an assessor is looking at your practice, not your subscription. Inside ExaHealth, every consultation is stored against the patient, prescriptions are written from a medicine list instead of free text with interaction alerts before sending, and each staff member gets role-based access so a receptionist books without seeing medical notes. A full audit trail records who opened a record and when, data is encrypted and hosted in India, and billing reports come out of the same system. Those are the artefacts an assessor asks to see.
If you are building that record layer from scratch, our clinic management software checklist and the piece on going paperless in OPD cover what to look for.
Accreditation is a long project with a short fee. Start by downloading the standards, marking the 174 objective elements honestly, and seeing how many are a writing job and how few are a spending one. If you want to see how the record-keeping side would work in your clinic, the ExaHealth team will walk you through it.
Sources
NABH runs a separate Allopathic Clinics Accreditation Programme, distinct from the hospital…
Standards edition in force for clinics is the 2nd Edition, June 2023
The clinic standards have ten chapters plus three speciality-specific chapters, 40…
Clinics must have implemented the standards for at least three months before applying
SHCO accreditation is for hospitals up to 50 beds, day care centres, super speciality and…
The Entry-Level Certification Programme (2nd Edition) is for hospitals providing allopathic…
AB PM-JAY Quality Certification has Bronze, Silver and Gold levels; Bronze requires a…
Editions in force used in the comparison table: Hospitals (HCO) 6th Edition (guidebook…
Frequently Asked Questions
Is NABH accreditation mandatory for a clinic?
Nothing on NABH's site presents it as a legal requirement. It is a voluntary accreditation. The registrations that are compulsory are separate, starting with your establishment registration under the Clinical Establishments Act or your state's equivalent law.
How long does NABH accreditation last?
Four years for a clinic, with a midterm surveillance assessment at 21 to 24 months. You should apply for renewal at least six months before the certificate expires, and NABH can also make an unannounced visit during the cycle if a serious incident is reported.
Can a single-doctor clinic apply, or do I need a polyclinic?
A single-doctor clinic is exactly what the programme defines as a clinic. The fee band for a clinic or dispensary is the lower of the two, and the on-site assessment is one assessor for one day.