India’s leading health care initiative — the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana scheme — will have a technology competition focused on the automation of processing for health insurance claims. The finals are scheduled for May 8–9, 2026, at IISc Bengaluru, and open registration is available until April 13, 2026.
The National Health Authority (NHA), which is responsible for managing this large-scale health care program as part of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, is hosting the AB PMJAY Auto-Adjudication Hackathon 2026 to create an innovative technology solution to improve the current processes for automating health insurance claim processing through the use of AI and other emerging technologies. NHA has also encouraged medical college and institution leadership to inform and invite faculty, researchers, physicians, and students to participate in this technology competition.
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What Is Ayushman Bharat PMJAY — In Simple Words?
Ayushman Bharat PMJAY is the flagship health insurance initiative of the Government of India, providing free treatment for medical expenses for eligible low-income households up to ₹5 lakh annually. Over 55 crore beneficiaries are enrolled in this program, making it one of the largest government-funded health insurance schemes in the world. Empanelled hospitals submit claims directly to the NHA/state health agency for reimbursement.
One of the significant challenges associated with this program is that HSPs must process their claims manually, leading to long wait times, excessive paperwork, and a high potential for fraud and errors in processing claims. The concept of “auto-adjudication” utilizes technology—particularly artificial intelligence (AI)—to automatically & quickly identify, process, and determine the outcome (i.e., either approve or deny) of a claim with minimal or no human involvement.
Thus, by implementing auto-adjudication, the entire claim processing operation is significantly enhanced from its current manual & paper-based process and is now much faster & much more accurate.
What Is This Hackathon About?
A hackathon is an event where developers, coders, data scientists, and other innovators come together to create a technology that solves a specific challenge—typically in a short time frame and under competitive conditions. Participants will be developing scalable, automated, AI-driven systems that can automatically execute the entire claims adjudication process for PMJAY beneficiaries and hospitals.
The top three solutions will be presented to an audience of industry, government, and academia leaders at the culminating event scheduled for May 8–9, 2026, at the prestigious Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru, one of the premier research institutes in India or globally.
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What Happens At The Finale—Day By Day
The schedule for the conclusion will take place over two days, with the first day scheduled from May 8, 2026, to May 9, 2026.
On May 8, the first event will be held from 10:30 am until no later than 11:30 am, featuring an opening message that will include multiple well-known speakers; the second event will feature how the hackathon’s winning teams will each present details about their submissions for a duration of 15 minutes each.
The final event for day one will be held from 2 pm to 3 pm, during which there will be an additional four hackathon-winning teams that will also deliver a presentation for a duration of 15 minutes.
On May 9, the first event will begin at 10 am and end at 10:45 am concerning the guidelines of how to use AI within healthcare; the second event will occur from 11:15 am until 11:45 am, which will consist of the presentation of awards to the hackathon winners; the last event scheduled for the same day will feature approximately five individuals serving as panelists who work for various organizations that will be discussing the trending issues related to a claims resolution process.
Why Should Medical Students And Researchers Care?
This hackathon is not simply for developers. If you are currently studying medicine or working at any level of clinical practice, including, for example, as a resident training for the MBBS, MD/MS, public health research, or health policy education, this event is highly useful to you. Gaining a basic understanding of the claims process used by hospitals and understanding the types of information that will be relevant to you as you enter your future career is a key component of being successful as a medical professional today. Participating in such an event, or simply participating in this, will expose you to where technology, healthcare, and government policy all meet.
Medical colleges have been encouraged to inform students and faculty for all medical schools throughout the country to contribute in the form of entries for this competition from their students and faculty members. Many schools will either provide entry assistance or help you form your team—speak with your Dean or Principal about this opportunity.
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