Running several hospital branches from one system: what to share and what to keep apart

A hospital with one location can get away with a loose setup. The moment there is a second branch, every shortcut starts to cost something: staff who can see patients they have no reason to see, a bill that carries the wrong GST number, an owner who cannot tell which branch is busy.

Running several branches from one system is mostly a question of deciding, deliberately, what is separate and what is shared. This is the checklist we use.

What should be separate for each branch

The queue and the day. Each branch has its own patients waiting, its own doctors on duty and its own schedule. A receptionist should see her branch's queue and nothing else. If everything lands in one list, nobody trusts it.

OPD hours. Branches rarely keep the same hours. One may run a morning and an evening session, another a single long one, a third may be open round the clock. The same goes for each doctor: one who visits two branches will have different days and times at each.

Billing details. This is the one that surprises people. GST registration is per state, so a hospital group with branches in more than one state, or in a union territory, may need a different GSTIN for each branch, and each branch's receipts should carry the right one. A separate address, phone number, letterhead and receipt look are common too.

Staff access. People work in the branches they are assigned to, and should not reach into the others. A person who works across two branches can be assigned to both. Nobody should have access because it was easier to give everyone everything.

Patients' records. Whether a patient is visible at every branch, or only the one they registered at, is a decision with privacy consequences. Make it on purpose and know what your software does by default.

What the owner should see across all of them

One login. Owners and managers should not have a separate account per branch. They should switch branch from the top bar and see each one as its staff does.

Combined and per-branch numbers. For the group: how many appointments a day, how long patients wait, how long consultations take, how much was collected and how much is outstanding. Then the same figures for one branch, so you can see where the problems are.

Collections by payment mode. Cash, UPI, card and bank transfer by branch, so the owner can reconcile the day without asking anyone.

An audit trail. Who did what and when, across branches. You will want this the first time two branches disagree about a bill.

What to share

The price list. Most groups want the same service names and prices everywhere, with the option to change one where a branch differs. Starting from one list avoids a branch quietly charging something different.

Roles. Decide what a receptionist, a billing clerk, a doctor and a branch manager can do once, and apply it to every branch. Rebuilding permissions per branch is where mistakes creep in.

Training. Once the front desk at one branch is comfortable, your next branch learns from them, not from a manual.

Questions to ask any software vendor

1. Can I run all branches from one login, and does each branch's data stay separate?
2. Can I assign a person to one branch or several?
3. Can hours be set per branch and per doctor, with a 24-hour option?
4. Can billing details, including the GSTIN, be set per branch?
5. Can I see combined figures and branch figures from the same screen?
6. What does adding a branch cost, and who does it?

How Amma Health approaches it

Amma Health was built inside a hospital group, so branches were never an afterthought. Staff are assigned to the branches they work in. Each branch has its own OPD hours, and each doctor can have their own hours and time off at each branch. Billing details, including a GSTIN, can be set for the hospital and again for a single branch. Analytics can be filtered by date range, doctor and branch, and collections are shown by branch and by payment mode.

If you run, or are about to run, more than one location, the multi-branch page shows how it looks, and you can call us to walk through your own setup.