NHCX Newborn Claim (Parent Linking & Birth Certificate)

Overview

A newborn cannot hold its own insurance policy, so NHCX claims for a baby are filed under the card-holder parent's policy. This is handled in two parts:

1. Upload proof-of-birth documents (a discharge card or birth certificate) against the baby's record.
2. Link the parent by entering the parent's UHID during the eligibility check. The system then carries the parent's policy identity through the claim, and the baby is attached to the bundle as its own Patient entry.

Prerequisites

• The baby must already exist as a patient in the system (the claim is filed against the baby's record).
• The parent must also exist as a patient, and must be the card-holder whose policy covers the newborn.
• The parent must have a valid ABHA / PMJAY policy discoverable via Get Policies.
• The NHCX participant (provider) onboarding must be complete (see NHCX Participant ID Generation).

Part 1 — Upload proof-of-birth documents

Proof-of-birth is stored as a PDF DocumentReference against the baby's record, in one of two slots:

Where to upload:

• New Patient form — the Birth Certificate (Proof of Birth) section appears at the bottom of the patient registration form. You must save the patient first (the section needs the patient's saved record before a file can be attached).
• NHCX patient page — open the patient's NHCX page and expand the Birth Certificate (Proof of Birth) accordion.

In each slot, choose a PDF file. The file uploads immediately and shows "Saved successfully". Uploading a new file for the same slot replaces the previous document of that type.

Part 2 — Link the parent during eligibility check

1. Open the patient's NHCX page and start Check Eligibility Coverage.
2. Under Newborn (Baby of Parent), enter the parent's UHID in the Parent UHID (card-holder) field. This is the parent's local patient number (MRN), and it is optional — leave it empty for a non-newborn claim.
3. Continue the eligibility check as normal.

When a parent UHID is provided, the system resolves the parent and:

• Sets the coverage beneficiary to the parent's patient ID (so the parent's member/subscriber ID is used).
• Sets the primary Patient entry's name, mobile, gender, and birth date from the parent.
• Adds a link (refer) from the parent to the baby, and emits the baby as its own Patient entry named Baby of <parent name>.

Part 3 — Submit the claim

When you submit the claim for the newborn, the parent relation set at eligibility time is carried forward automatically. The claim bundle:

• Uses the parent's policy identity as the beneficiary.
• Includes the baby as a separate Patient entry.
• Inlines the uploaded proof-of-birth PDFs as supportingInfo (category DOB) so the payer receives them with the claim.

Common Issues

• "Parent patient not found for the given UHID" — the entered UHID does not match any patient in this organization. Check the parent's local patient number.
• Birth certificate section says to save the patient first — this appears on the New Patient form when the record has not been saved yet. Save the patient, then upload the document.
• Uploaded the wrong document type — re-upload a new PDF for the same slot; it replaces the previous one.

FAQ

Q: Do I need a separate policy for the newborn? A: No. Newborn claims ride on the card-holder parent's policy. Link the parent via the Parent UHID field and the parent's member/subscriber ID is used.

Q: Is the Parent UHID field required for every claim? A: No. It is optional. Leave it empty for non-newborn claims; the baby's own identity is used as normal.

Q: What is the difference between DCB and BCF? A: DCB is the discharge card/slip issued by a government hospital at birth. BCF is the official birth certificate from the Registrar of Birth or a notified local body (Municipal Corporation, Taluk, Tehsil).

Q: Can I upload proof-of-birth after the claim is filed? A: Upload the documents before submitting the claim so they are inlined into the claim bundle. You can upload them at any time, but a claim already sent will not retroactively include them.