The problem RICE solves

RICE — Reliable Insurance Claim Engine

Insured, verified, paid — without the wait.

Inspiration

Medical insurance claims move through hospitals, insurers, third-party administrators, and payment institutions that each keep their own records of the same claim — leading to slow reconciliation, disputes over what was actually approved, and patients left waiting without a clear, shared source of truth. For someone waiting on a claim decision, that delay isn't just an inconvenience — it can be the deciding factor in whether they get life-saving treatment when they need it.

What it does

RICE is a shared coordination layer for medical insurance claims. Every institution — hospital, TPA, insurer — works off the same claim lifecycle instead of reconciling separate records after the fact:

1. AI verification for medical insurance claims, via the Gonka Router — a plausibility check that produces a Truth Score, a reasoning trace, and a traceable request ID, shown transparently at every point a decision is made.
2. Automated approval and payment for validated claims, via smart contracts on Sui — claims that clear both the policy's coverage rules and the AI trust threshold settle automatically, with gas sponsored so no party needs to hold SUI to participate.
3. Auditing for claim status, verification, and reasoning on Sui's blockchain network — immutable, distributed-ledger records of the claim lifecycle that every participating institution can independently verify, without needing to trust any single party's internal database.

Challenges we ran into

Our team went through so many challenges, especially considering this is our first hackathon together (go easy on us).

Each of us faced different ones throughout the development phase.

Shermaine: One of the main challenges I faced was that blockchain was completely new to me, hence I found many of the concepts confusing at first and had difficulty understanding how everything worked. Setting up Sui was also quite challenging as I was unfamiliar with the tools and technologies involved. I also rarely had the opportunity to work in a team before, so collaborating with others throughout a hackathon project was a new experience for me. However, having great teammates made the experience more enjoyable as we were able to support and learn from one another. Through this experience, I was also exposed to new knowledge, ideas, and ways of approaching problems that I would not normally encounter in school. It made me realise that there is so much more to learn beyond what is taught in the classroom and that practical experiences like hackathons can open me up to new technologies and possibilities. Although these challenges were difficult at first, they pushed me to step outside my comfort zone, adapt to unfamiliar situations and gain a broader perspective on what I can learn and achieve.

Madhushaa (Masha): I initially had a hard time trying to understand different blockchains and the exact purpose of the 3 tracks we were exposed to in muba. Because of this, my initial setup was also tough. I'm really thankful to my team for the constant support throughout!!

Li Yang: One of the challenges I faced was implementing multi-Gonka Router verification into the system. Since different transactions require different verification processes, I had to design the routing logic to ensure that each request was sent to the appropriate Gonka Router while maintaining a consistent verification flow. This required careful handling of request routing, verification results, and failure cases to ensure that the system remained reliable and secure.

Way Hou (Jim): I struggled a lot understanding how blockchain as a whole works, as well as what industries and businesses this could be adopted into that was not commonly thought of, while ensuring that it was actually feasible and correct to implement. However, my team helped me understand the concepts and their use cases via regular meetings, therefore hopefully if we win, I attribute the success greatly to them, cheers!