Recently announced by multiple government ministries, the 'AI Basic Healthcare Strategy' is highly significant. This policy will not only impact the medical AI industry but also profoundly reshape the national healthcare system. It declares that the state will guarantee access to AI-based healthcare for all citizens and fill the voids in regional and essential medical services crumbling away through artificial intelligence.
The strategy includes supporting AI adoption in clinics in underserved areas, distributing commercial medical AI tools to local hospitals and clinics, establishing AI-based referral and transfer systems, emergency transport protocols, and even a framework for evaluating and rewarding outcomes of AI medical technologies. Such forward-looking policies are so bold that one might wonder if they could ever be realized in Korea. Particularly, the following points deserve attention:
First, the medical AI policy has shifted from traditional industrial promotion to building 'medical infrastructure.' Industrial promotion is short-term and may end if results are not achieved, whereas basic healthcare is a social infrastructure provided to all citizens. In other words, just as roads and water supply systems are laid nationwide, the plan is to deploy medical AI across the entire country. This approach offers far greater sustainability than industrial promotion, and both the source and scale of funding will be on an entirely different level.
Second, the state has declared itself the 'payer' for medical AI. For the private sector, this announcement represents the most critical message—and nearly a shock—of all. Until now, the biggest concern for domestic medical AI companies has been that even with excellent technology, they cannot enter the market. Entering the market requires evidence of utility, but generating such evidence necessitates prior market entry—a classic chicken-and-egg dilemma. If the state becomes the direct purchaser, this dilemma can be resolved.
Third, Korea has boldly entered a globally unprecedented domain: performance-based compensation. Beyond rewarding individual AI technology usage, the strategy aims to establish a system for evaluating and compensating based on medical outcomes achieved through AI technologies. While everyone agrees that health insurance should evolve in this direction, no country has yet solved this challenge. Korea has now declared it will tackle this issue head-on at the national strategic level.
If fully realized, this strategy could become a game-changer for both Korean healthcare and the medical AI industry. Despite possessing world-class technology, data, and companies, Korean medical AI has long struggled due to the lack of a domestic market. With the state injecting large-scale catalyst funds into the market under this strategy, a virtuous cycle will emerge—linking medical AI technologies, industries, regulations, evidence generation, and global expansion like interlocking gears.
However, there is one condition required to make all of this happen: budget. Since many of the proposed initiatives are scheduled to begin in 2027, they must be reflected in next year's budget. There is little time remaining.
An even greater challenge lies in securing funding sources. As this strategy operates independently from the current reimbursement system, it cannot yet draw on health insurance funds. Some argue that the newly established Special Account for Regional and Essential Medical Services should be utilized instead. Ultimately, however, creating a dedicated fund specifically for the 'AI Basic Healthcare Strategy' remains the definitive solution. For example, establishing an 'AX Transition Fund' to pay for basic healthcare AI technologies before they are integrated into reimbursement schemes could work. In 2020, Germany enacted its 'Hospital Future Act,' allocating approximately 6 trillion won in hospital digital funds to support AI adoption in hospitals.
Funding is not entirely unavailable. A large surplus in corporate income tax is anticipated, and there are calls to invest these excess revenues in preparing for the nation's future. If the government advocates for an 'AI Basic Society,' then 'AI Basic Healthcare' would be among the most appropriate initial investment targets. After all, healthcare is the most fundamental social infrastructure and a welfare service provided to all citizens.
This announcement was developed jointly by multiple government ministries. To implement this strategy, full support from relevant ministries—including the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Ministry of Health and Welfare, and Ministry of Science and ICT—is essential. The strategy that will become a game-changer for Korean healthcare and the medical AI industry has now been clearly defined. What remains is the budget issue. We hope that through groundbreaking budgetary support, AI Basic Healthcare will take the first step toward opening an AI Basic Society.
in OPINION
