Tag: Radiology Partners

RP Acquires Vision AI Firm Cognita Imaging

Posted on by Brian Casey

Radiology Partners ramped up its investment in AI by acquiring Cognita Imaging, a startup that’s developed AI vision language models for analyzing CT and X-ray images and drafting initial radiology reports. RP executives see the acquisition as going beyond traditional point-source AI models and toward a future where AI automates much of the traditional image interpretation process.

The $80M acquisition expands on an equity stake RP already had in Cognita, which had been operating in stealth mode since its spin-off from Stanford University’s Center for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine and Imaging lab.

  • Cognita was formed by a team led by CEO Louis Blankemeier, PhD, to commercialize Stanford research on vision language models, a type of generative AI that’s far more versatile than the traditional point-source models being commercialized to analyze medical images.

Instead, Cognita’s technology is able to analyze text as well as CT or X-ray images and produce first drafts of radiology reports that just need a radiologist’s review and signature to be complete.

  • Extremely positive clinical tests with Cognita’s VLM models spurred RP to acquire the rest of the company it didn’t already own, said Rich Whitney, chairman and CEO of Radiology Partners. 

Cognita’s technology powers Mosaic Drafting, RP’s new application for helping radiologists draft reports that operates under the company’s recently launched Mosaic Clinical Technologies branding. Early clinical testing has found that Mosaic Drafting…

  • Increases radiologist detection rates by 52%.
  • Results in a fourfold decline in radiologist errors.
  • Reduces radiologist reading times by up to 76%.

RP plans to deploy Mosaic Drafting through Mosaic Clinical Technologies, which the company launched in July as the technological foundation for a massive rollout of AI across its physician practices. 

  • Mosaic Chief Medical AI Officer Nina Kottler, MD, said Mosaic Drafting is currently being used within Radiology Partners under IRB approval, but the company will pursue an FDA authorization – most likely under a de novo pathway – that probably will come sometime in 2026.

In a broader sense, RP sees Mosaic Drafting and other VLM tools as key to the growing mismatch between rising imaging volume and stagnant radiologist supply – a mismatch that can only be solved through greater automation. 

  • And as the largest private radiology organization in the U.S., Radiology Partners has the organizational heft to make VLMs work on a wide scale.

The Takeaway 

RP’s acquisition of Cognita is a major development in putting vision language models on the fast track to real-world clinical use. Unlike point-source AI, VLMs could hold the key to really solving radiology’s volume overload dilemma.

RP Builds AI Mosaic as Company’s IT Foundation

Posted on by Brian Casey

Radiology Partners announced a new initiative to guide the rollout of AI across its nationwide network of radiology practices. The company’s new MosaicOS will be the IT foundation that connects RP practices and supports clinical uses from AI-assisted reporting to report generation and even image management.

Radiology Partners has grown since its founding in 2012 to become the largest privately held provider of imaging services in the U.S. and a major force behind the consolidation of private-practice radiology groups.

  • RP has always maintained a heavy technology investment, and has been looking closely at the rise of AI in radiology.

That’s because the growth in imaging volume is so massive that clinicians will no longer be able to care for patients adequately without AI’s assistance, at least according to RP’s Associate Chief Medical Officer for Clinical AI Nina Kottler, MD.

RP laid the groundwork for MosaicOS in 2020 by first migrating its technology stack to a cloud-native infrastructure. 

  • This frees RP from reliance on on-premises legacy software and enables the company to push out updates that can be adopted quickly across its network.

RP’s Mosaic rollout includes the following components as the company…

  • Forms a new division, Mosaic Clinical Technologies, to oversee its AI activities.
  • Debuts MosaicOS, a cloud-native operating system that combines AI support with workflow and other IT tools.
  • Launches Mosaic Reporting, an automated structured reporting solution that combines ambient voice AI with large language model technology.
  • Develops Mosaic Drafting, a multimodal AI foundation model that pre-drafts X-ray reports that radiologists can review, edit, and sign. 

Mosaic Reporting is already in use at some RP sites, and the company is pursuing FDA clearance for broader use of Mosaic Drafting. More Mosaic applications are on the way.

  • Mosaic tools will be disseminated to RP centers using the cloud-native infrastructure, and MosaicOS will include image management functions that providers can choose to use in place of or alongside existing tools like viewers and archives. 

Kottler told The Imaging Wire that RP has de-emphasized individual pixel-based AI models in favor of foundation models that have broader application.

  • What’s more, RP CEO Rich Whitney said the company has chosen to develop AI technology internally rather than rely on outside vendors, as this gives it greater control over its own AI adoption.

The Takeaway

The launch of MosaicOS marks an exciting milestone not only for Radiology Partners but also for radiology in general that could address nagging concerns about clinical AI adoption on a broad scale. RP has not only the network but also the technology resources to make the rollout a success – the question is whether outside AI developers will share in the rewards.

RadPartners + Envision Consolidate Imaging Services

Posted on by Brian Casey

In a stunning consolidation of the imaging services segment, Radiology Partners has agreed to take over radiology contracts currently held by debt-laden national medical group Envision Healthcare. The agreement could bring up to 100 imaging sites and hundreds of radiologists into the RadPartners fold. 

The takeover is a remarkable comedown for Envision, which was once one of the largest national medical practices in the U.S. and employed some 25k physicians when it was acquired in 2018 by private equity giant KKR. 

  • Envision’s business crossed multiple medical specialties, with its radiology operation at one point employing 800 radiologists who performed over 10 million reads per year. 

But Envision struggled under a $5.3B debt load imposed by the KKR buyout, and eventually filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023 in a move that also included spinning off its ambulatory surgery business. 

  • Many industry observers have viewed Envision’s rise and fall as a cautionary tale illustrating the perils of private-equity investment in American medicine.

Radiology Partners itself has evolved into the giant of the imaging services segment as it rolls up local radiology practices into a massive national network. Under the agreement with Envision, RP will … 

  • Take over Envision’s contracts with some 95 client sites, including teleradiology. 
  • Potentially bring some 400 Envision radiologists onboard (assuming they want to join RP).

The question is, how many Envision radiologists will choose to go with the contracts and join Radiology Partners? 

  • Speculation on industry bulletin board RadHQ.net proposes that Envision radiologists will be offered new contracts with RP – contracts that they can take or leave.

The Takeaway

Radiology Partners’ takeover of Envision’s radiology contracts will only enhance RP’s dominance of the imaging services market, which is already significant. While that may be good news to RP’s investors, it probably won’t be encouraging to those worried about the inexorable corporatization of radiology. 

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