The Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) will hold its 2026 international symposium on Aug. 28 at the Grand Ballroom on the second floor of the Ambassador Seoul Pullman Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, the agency announced Monday. The event will be held under the theme "AI Great Transformation: Opening the Future of Healthcare Innovation — Redrawing Systems, Policies and the Field."

The symposium was organized to explore policy directions for bringing AI into established regulatory frameworks and to discuss ways to deploy AI safely and reliably in the health and medical sector.

Keynote addresses will be delivered by Eric Sutherland, a senior health economist at the OECD, and Kim Jun-ha, a professor at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology.

The presentation sessions will feature Stephen Duckett, emeritus professor at the University of Melbourne in Australia; Claus Møldrup, director of data analytics at the Danish Medicines Agency; Lian-Yu Chen, director-general of Taiwan's National Health Insurance Administration; and Park Rae-woong, a professor at Ajou University. Each will present AI innovation cases and regulatory and policy issues from their respective countries.

Following the presentations, a panel discussion moderated by Kim Ju-han, a professor at Seoul National University, will bring together sector experts — including Park Jeong-hwan, director of the Ministry of Health and Welfare's medical AI and data policy division — to exchange views on the challenges facing healthcare in the age of AI.

The event is open to domestic and international health and medical professionals as well as any interested members of the public, either in person or via HIRA's official YouTube channel. Those wishing to attend in person can pre-register through the symposium's official website from Monday through Aug. 19.

"AI is the core driver transforming the paradigm of healthcare — it is no longer an option but an essential innovation strategy," HIRA President Hong Seung-kwon said. "I hope this symposium will serve as a meaningful forum for charting the direction of AI-based healthcare development and collectively exploring sustainable paths to innovation."


thlee@heraldcorp.com