Medical AI companies begin to supply homegrown solutions
AI solutions developed by Korean medical artificial intelligence companies, including Lunit, have begun to be used in medical sites, raising expectations among market players and the medical community.
On Tuesday last week, Lunit, Coreline Soft, and Deepnoid received the results of the National Evidence-based Healthcare Collaborating Agency (NECA)’s use (clinical practice) of innovative medical technology. This means that each company's AI solution can be supplied to medical institutions as non-reimbursed items of health insurance.
Accordingly, Lunit will supply Lunit INSIGHT CXR, an AI image analysis solution for chest X-rays; Coreline Soft will supply AVIEW NeuroCAD, a software for detecting and diagnosing brain hemorrhage, and Deepnoid will supply DEEP: NEURO, a solution for detecting and diagnosing brain aneurysms.
All of these products approved for practical use in the medical field were selected as innovative medical technologies through the integrated evaluation of innovative medical devices organized by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
From now on, each company will finalize the non-reimbursed fee through negotiations with the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA).
Lunit supplies Lunit INSIGHT CXR to 22 medical institutions, including Myongji Medical in Goyang and Incheon Christian Hospital. Lunit INSIGHT CXR is an AI solution that detects 10 chest diseases, including lung nodules, fibrosis, and calcification, in chest X-rays to assist doctors in diagnosis.
Coreline Soft's AView NeuroCAD will be deployed in 16 hospitals, including Inje University Ilsan Paik Hospital and Chungnam National University Sejong Hospital. These hospitals will utilize AVIEW NeuroCAD for brain CT analysis of patients who visit the emergency room and will pay Coreline Soft per analysis.
"This is significant for Coreline Soft because it allows us to extend our SaaS (Software as a Service) model to emergency departments, where revenue is based on usage, rather than the traditional business model where hospitals purchase the solution," a Coreline Soft official said.
Deepnoid's DEEP:NEURO, a solution that detects brain aneurysms in brain MRA images and assists medical staff in diagnosis, will be introduced in 17 hospitals. Deepnoid expects to provide consistent results for brain aneurysms, improving the convenience and accuracy of image reading.
"The medical community is excited about the added opportunity for patients to receive the best possible treatment," a Deepnoid official said. "DEEP:NEURO is our first AI solution to receive insurance coverage, and we will continue to expand our revenue-generating business lines."
The medical community is also excited about the entry of domestic AI solutions into the domestic medical field.
"Cerebrovascular disease is a so-called golden time disease, which means that after a certain period after the onset of cerebrovascular disease, recovery can be difficult or even fatal," said Professor Choi Seung-pil of the Department of Emergency Medicine at CHA University Gumi Medical Center, which has adopted Coreline Soft's AVIEW NeuroCAD. "We have adopted AVIEW NeuroCAD for rapid diagnosis and treatment, and we will do our best to provide high-quality medical services to more patients based on this non-reimbursed service."
Incheon Christian Hospital President Lee Hye-min said, “Lunit INSIGHT CXR has high detection accuracy for chest diseases and improved reading efficiency, as has already been proven in many countries worldwide. We expect to provide even better medical services to our patients through this solution."
Meanwhile, in November last year, JLK announced that its AI ischemic stroke (cerebral infarction) type analysis solution, JBS-01K, was the first medical AI solution in Korea to receive a non-reimbursed fee and be supplied to medical institutions. The non-reimbursed price of JBS-01K is 53,000 won ($38.4) per use.