The Korean government is launching a full-scale "Medical AX (AI Transformation)" initiative to integrate artificial intelligence across all aspects of chronic disease management. The plan aims to improve the quality of medical services by utilizing AI throughout the entire cycle from daily health management to hospital care.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced Wednesday that it held a briefing session for the "Full-Cycle AI Transformation (AX) Project for Chronic Disease Patients" at the President Hotel in Seoul. The briefing was organized to explain the project details and application procedures to AI companies, local governments, public health institutions, and medical facilities.
The initiative is being pursued as part of the "AX Sprint" program, which supports early commercialization of AI-based services. The ministry has been accepting applications for implementing organizations since January 1, with the goal of achieving tangible results such as revenue generation or public service implementation within one to two years.
The project consists of five main categories: AI services for managing exercise and dietary habits in daily life, support for primary care medical services, coordination of medical information between healthcare institutions, collaboration on medical imaging interpretation, and remote consultation models—comprehensively covering all aspects of chronic disease management.
This initiative is expected to bring changes to the healthcare delivery system and service methods, as it represents an attempt to transform the chronic disease management framework to a digital foundation. The government also plans to simultaneously build a public medical AX infrastructure, including data standardization, activation of medical information exchange, and advancement of the healthcare big data platform.
"Through this project, AI technology will permeate all aspects of healthcare from citizens' daily lives to university hospitals, improving the quality of medical care," said Kim Hyun-sook, Director General for Advanced Medical Support. "We will establish more systematic support measures through the 'AI Basic Medical Strategy' that we are developing with the goal of announcing it in the first half of this year."