Roles and Permissions

Overview

NICE HMS uses role-based access control (RBAC). Each user is assigned one role that determines which sidebar menu items they see and which actions they can perform.

A separate field, Professional Access, classifies the user's clinical designation (Doctor, Nurse, Lab Technician, etc.) and is used for ABDM practitioner records — it does not control menu access.

Available Roles

14 roles exist in the system:

Role	Sidebar Access	Typical User
admin	All menus: Patient, NHCX, Notifications, My Area, Admin, HR, Doctor, Accounts, My Patients, HIU, PRM, MIS Reports	Hospital owner, superuser
director	Same as admin except Admin menu	Senior management, medical director
doctor	Patient, NHCX, Notifications, My Area, HR, Doctor, My Patients, HIU, PRM, MIS Reports	Consulting doctors
accountant	Patient, NHCX, Notifications, My Area, HR, Accounts, PRM, MIS Reports	Finance and billing staff
receptionist_accountant	Patient, NHCX, Notifications, My Area, HR, Accounts, PRM, MIS Reports	Front desk with billing access
receptionist	Patient, NHCX, Notifications, My Area, HR, PRM, MIS Reports	Front desk only (no accounts)
pharmacist	Patient, NHCX, Notifications, My Area, HR, Accounts, PRM, MIS Reports	Pharmacy billing — restricted to pharmacy voucher types only (INVOICE_P, PURCHASE_P)
nurse	Patient, NHCX, Notifications, My Area, HR, PRM, MIS Reports	Ward nurses — IPD charting, vitals
HR	Patient, NHCX, Notifications, My Area, HR, PRM, MIS Reports	Human resources
insurance_lead	Patient, NHCX, Notifications, My Area, HR, PRM, MIS Reports	Insurance coordination
insurance_executive	Patient, NHCX, Notifications, My Area, HR, PRM, MIS Reports	Insurance operations (limited)
marketing_lead	Patient, NHCX, Notifications, My Area, HR, PRM, MIS Reports	CRM, campaigns
marketing_executive	Patient, NHCX, Notifications, My Area, HR, PRM, MIS Reports	CRM (limited)
visitor	Patient, NHCX, Notifications, My Area, HR, PRM, MIS Reports	Read-only observer. Cannot create, edit, or delete. Also cannot have a doctor profile.

Sidebar Key

Menu	Who Sees It
Patient	All roles
NHCX	All roles
Notifications	All roles
My Area	All roles
Admin	admin only
HR	All roles
Doctor	admin, director, doctor
Accounts	admin, director, accountant, receptionist_accountant, pharmacist
My Patients	admin, director, doctor
HIU	admin, director, doctor
PRM	All roles
MIS Reports	All roles

The Free plan only shows Patient and NHCX menus — all other menus are hidden regardless of role.

Professional Access

Professional Access is a user classification field separate from role. It identifies the user's clinical designation and is used for ABDM practitioner records (Healthcare Professional ID). It does not control sidebar access or permissions.

Professional Access
Doctor	Nurse
Lab Technician	Pathologist
Microbiologist	Biochemist
Cath Lab Technician	Medical Transcriptionist
Duty Doctor	Nil

A user with role "receptionist" can have Professional Access "Nil." A user with role "doctor" typically has Professional Access "Doctor." The two fields are independent.

Changing a User's Role

Go to Admin → Users.
Find the user and click Edit.
Change the Role dropdown.
Save. The change takes effect immediately — the user's sidebar updates on next login.

Only the admin role can change user roles.

Deactivating Users

Setting a user to Inactive is the recommended way to remove access without losing data:

Effect	Details
Login blocked	User cannot sign in
Seat freed	Inactive users do not count toward subscription seat billing
Historical records preserved	Name remains on past prescriptions, bills, encounters
Doctor profile unaffected	If the user has a doctor profile, it still appears in clinical dropdowns

This is the basis of the visiting doctor pattern — create a user, mark them Inactive (no login, no billing cost), but their doctor profile remains active for prescriptions and discharge summaries. See Creating Doctors.

FAQ

Q: Can I create custom roles? A: No. Roles are pre-defined in the system. Contact support for custom permission requirements.

Q: What is the difference between role and Professional Access? A: Role controls what a user can see and do (sidebar menus, page access). Professional Access is a clinical designation used for ABDM practitioner records. Lab Technician and Pathologist are Professional Access values, not roles.

Q: What can the Visitor role do? A: Visitor has read-only access. They cannot create, edit, or delete records. They also cannot have a doctor profile — the system prevents visitors from being assigned as doctors.

Q: Can a pharmacist access billing for non-pharmacy items? A: No. The pharmacist role is restricted to pharmacy voucher types (INVOICE_P, CREDIT_NOTE_P, PURCHASE_P, DEBIT_NOTE_P). Attempting to create non-pharmacy transactions returns a forbidden error.

Q: Why can't I see the Admin menu? A: Only the admin role can see the Admin menu. Director and all other roles have it hidden.

Q: How do I give a doctor access to billing? A: Doctors do not have the Accounts sidebar menu. To give a user both doctor and billing access, assign them the receptionist_accountant role. However, this removes the Doctor sidebar. There is no combined doctor+billing role — consider whether the user needs a separate account for billing.