NHA Concludes NHCX Hackathon Under ABDM, Showcases Digital Solutions to Transform Health Insurance Claims

The NHCX Hackathon invited participants to develop innovative solutions addressing operational challenges in health insurance claims processing and ecosystem interoperability.

 

The National Health Authority (NHA) has successfully concluded the NHCX Hackathon organised under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), aimed at fostering innovation around the National Health Claims Exchange (NHCX). The winning teams presented their solutions at the NHCX Innovation Meet held on 6–7 March 2026 at IIT Hyderabad, where their work was showcased and recognised by leaders from government, industry and academia.

The two-day Innovation Meet also served as the grand finale of the hackathon, which had been conducted from 22 February to 28 February 2026.

Strengthening India’s Digital Health Claims Infrastructure

The hackathon was organised in collaboration with several ecosystem partners, including the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), IIT Hyderabad, National Resource Centre for EHR Standards (NRCeS), General Insurance Council (GIC), Google, Insurance Information Bureau (IIB), National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH), India Insurtech Association (IIA) and NATHealth.

The National Health Claims Exchange (NHCX) is one of the three key gateways under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission and has been developed to simplify and standardise health insurance claims processing across India. It provides a unified digital platform enabling seamless data exchange among hospitals, insurance companies and patients.

By creating interoperable digital infrastructure for claims management, the platform aims to reduce delays, improve transparency and increase efficiency in the health insurance ecosystem.

Hackathon Tracks Focus on Real-World Challenges

The NHCX Hackathon invited participants to develop innovative solutions addressing operational challenges in health insurance claims processing and ecosystem interoperability.

Under the Hackathon (Build) track, participants worked on creating open-source utilities designed to support integration with the NHCX platform. Key development areas included:

• Legacy systems to NHCX-aligned FHIR converters for workflows such as eligibility checks, claims, pre-authorisation and communication

• Clinical documents to structured FHIR data converters for diagnostic reports and discharge summaries

• PDF-to-NHCX-aligned insurance plan FHIR bundle converters

In the Ideathon track, participants were encouraged to propose business use cases that leverage NHCX capabilities to address broader ecosystem challenges. These included solutions for detecting misuse or abuse in claims processing and strategies for optimising claims processing time and cost.

The problem statements were designed to encourage the use of standardised FHIR data formats, ABDM registries and NHCX workflows to enhance interoperability, efficiency and transparency in India’s health insurance ecosystem.

Strong Participation from Health and Technology Ecosystems

The hackathon witnessed significant participation from across the healthcare, insurance and technology sectors. A total of 112 submissions were received across five problem statements and were evaluated by an independent expert jury.

The jury included representatives from IIT Hyderabad, NRCeS, GIC, Google, IIA, NATHealth and the National Health Authority.

Participants represented a wide spectrum of stakeholders, including health-tech startups, insurtech companies, insurers, third-party administrators (TPAs), hospitals including PMJAY-empanelled institutions, hospital management information system (HMIS) vendors, academic institutions, developers, students and technology innovators.

The diversity of participants reflected the growing interest in building standards-based and interoperable digital infrastructure for India’s health insurance ecosystem.

NHCX Innovation Meet Brings Stakeholders Together

The NHCX Innovation Meet, held on 6–7 March at IIT Hyderabad, brought together regulators, state governments, industry leaders, technology innovators and academic institutions to advance the adoption of interoperable health claims solutions under ABDM.

The event featured presentations by winning teams, keynote addresses and panel discussions focusing on strengthening standardisation, interoperability and operational efficiency in health insurance claims processing.

The inaugural session on the second day was attended by several senior dignitaries including Dr. Sunil Kumar Barnwal, CEO of the National Health Authority; Shri Saurabh Gaur, Secretary for Health, Medical and Family Welfare, Government of Andhra Pradesh; Dr. Girdhar Gyani, Director General of the Association of Healthcare Providers of India (AHPI); and Prof. G. Narahari Sastry, Dean of IIT Hyderabad.

Vision of NHCX as a Digital Public Infrastructure

In his address, Dr. Sunil Kumar Barnwal emphasised that health claims processing remains one of the most complex and persistent challenges in India’s health insurance ecosystem.

He noted that the National Health Claims Exchange aims to bring standardisation and interoperability to a system that affects millions of citizens.

Barnwal explained that NHCX is designed not only for hospitals and insurers but for the entire healthcare ecosystem.

“The National Health Claims Exchange is not limited to hospitals and insurance companies alone; it is a platform designed to serve the entire healthcare ecosystem, including patients, healthcare providers, insurers and technology innovators,” he said.

He added that the long-term vision for NHCX is similar to digital public infrastructure platforms like UPI, where users may not be aware of the institution operating the system but trust the platform because it works seamlessly and reliably.

Role of Digital Technologies in Claims Processing

Across the inaugural addresses, speakers highlighted the importance of digital technologies, artificial intelligence and data-driven systems in strengthening health insurance claims processing and improving the quality of healthcare delivery.

Shri Saurabh Gaur emphasised Andhra Pradesh’s commitment to building digital public infrastructure for health services.

He noted that the state has undertaken large-scale efforts to generate Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) numbers for the population.

“In Andhra Pradesh, we believe strongly in the power of building these foundational blocks of digital public infrastructure,” he said, adding that the initiative reflects the state’s commitment to ensuring that every citizen becomes part of the digital health ecosystem.

Panel Discussions on Scaling NHCX Adoption

The Innovation Meet also hosted panel discussions featuring representatives from organisations across the health insurance ecosystem, including NABH, NATHealth, Insurance Information Bureau (IIB), insurers, TPAs and digital health innovators.

The discussions focused on several critical themes, including:

• Standardisation in claims settlement processes

• Accelerating adoption of NHCX across hospitals and insurers

• Leveraging technology and data standards to transform claims processing workflows

The first day of the event focused on technical and operational aspects of claims processing, including discussions on artificial intelligence and digital transformation in the health insurance value chain.

The second day examined challenges related to scale and adoption, including barriers and enablers for hospital participation in the NHCX platform.

Technology demonstration stalls were also set up by organisations such as Google, AWS, NRCeS, NABH and NHA to showcase innovations supporting the digital health ecosystem.

Recognising Contributors to India’s Digital Health Ecosystem

During the event on 7 March, the National Health Authority also recognised organisations and individuals contributing to the growth of the digital health ecosystem.

Awards were presented to hackathon and ideathon winners, and the first cohort of NHCX Champions, ABDM Ambassadors and NHCX–PMJAY Early Integrators was announced.

The NHCX Champions initiative recognises organisations that have played a key role in operationalising and scaling NHCX across payer and provider networks.

ABDM Ambassadors recognise organisations and professional bodies that have actively promoted awareness and adoption of ABDM within their communities.

Meanwhile, NHCX–PMJAY Early Integrators honour organisations that have successfully built modules enabling claims under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) to be processed through the NHCX platform.

This integration brings the world’s largest publicly funded health assurance scheme onto a standardised and interoperable claims exchange infrastructure.

Driving Momentum Towards a Digital Claims Ecosystem

The event concluded with closing remarks by Shri Kiran Gopal Vaska, Joint Secretary and Mission Director of ABDM at NHA, who presented a synthesis of the discussions held over the two days.

The valedictory address was delivered by Shri Ajay Seth, Chairman of IRDAI.

Through a combination of ecosystem-driven innovation, policy dialogue and recognition of organisations driving adoption, the Innovation Meet is expected to accelerate progress toward a digitally enabled, interoperable and efficient health claims ecosystem in India.