AI-powered solutions win top honours at NHA hackathon

Bengaluru: The two-day Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) Auto-Adjudication Hackathon Showcase 2026 concluded at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) on Saturday, with the National Health Authority (NHA) announcing winners across three categories focused on improving healthcare claims processing using Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Organised by the NHA under the Union Health Ministry, in collaboration with the IndiaAI Mission and IISc Bengaluru, the hackathon drew over 3,500 participants, including startups, researchers, students and technology professionals from across the country.

The event aimed to make healthcare claim processing more transparent and automated, said Sunil Kumar Barnwal, CEO, NHA. “When hospitals raise claims for treatments provided, claim processing becomes one of the important responsibilities of the NHA. Over time, we noticed that the process is not only time-consuming, but can also have inconsistencies,” he said.

The hackathon focused on three problem statements. Shortlisted teams presented AI-enabled solutions aimed at automating claims adjudication under AB PM-JAY. Entries were evaluated by industry experts on innovation, scalability and real-world applicability.

Under “Clinical Document Classification and Compliance to Standard Treatment Guidelines”, Team Nirnaya, led by Vinay Babu Ulli, emerged as the winner for developing an AI-supported solution capable of automatically reading healthcare claim documents and assessing compliance. Team Khushi Singh and Ronit from IIIT Gwalior secured the runner-up position, while Team Vidal Health finished second runner-up.

In the “Radiological Image-Based Condition Detection and Report Correlation” category, Team BiltIQ AI, led by Harish Kumar, won first place. Team Kantaka Sodhana secured the runner-up position, while Team Arnold Sachith and Dr Smitha Rao placed second runner-up.

Under “Document Forgery/Deepfake Detection”, Team Sopa Claims, led by Praveen Sridhar and Snehal Joshi, was declared the winner. Team Forgensic from RGUKT-Nuzvid was runner-up, while Team Sushurutha Health AI secured the second runner-up position.

Winners received cash prizes of Rs 5 lakh, Rs 3 lakh and Rs 2 lakh, respectively.