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Unpacking Heartflow’s IPO, Workforce Shortage, and NM Training
August 14, 2025
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Together with
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“By and large Medicare has the money to spend that they have, and it will take literally an act of Congress to add additional money to the pot.”
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Sandy Coffta of Healthcare Administrative Partners, on CMS’s proposed 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule.
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CMS has released its proposed Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates for 2026. How will they impact radiology? In a new edition of The Imaging Wire Show, we talked to Sandy Coffta of revenue cycle management firm Healthcare Administrative Partners about the changes.
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Cardiac AI specialist Heartflow went public last week, and the IPO was a watershed moment for the imaging AI segment. The question is whether Heartflow is blazing a path to be followed by other AI developers or if the company is a shooting star that’s more likely to be admired from afar than emulated.
First the details: Heartflow went public August 8, raising $317M by issuing 16.7M shares at $19 each – and finishing up 50% for the day.
- The IPO beat analyst expectations, which originally estimated gross proceeds of $215M, and put the company’s market capitalization at $2.5B – well within the mid-cap stock category.
So what’s so special about this IPO? Heartflow’s flagship product is FFRCT Analysis, which uses AI-based software to calculate fractional flow reserve – a measure of heart health – from coronary CT angiography scans.
- This eliminates the need for an invasive pressure-wire catheter to be threaded into the heart.
Heartflow got an early start in the FFR-CT segment by nabbing FDA clearance for Heartflow FFRCT Analysis in 2014, and since then has been the single most successful AI company in winning reimbursement from both CMS and private payors.
- In fact, a 2023 analysis of AI reimbursement found that FFRCT Analysis was the top AI product by number of submitted CPT claims, at 67.3k claims – over 4X more than the next product on the list.
That’s created a revenue stream for Heartflow that clearly bucks the myth that clinicians aren’t getting paid for AI.
- And in an IPO filing with the SEC, Heartflow revealed how reimbursement is driving revenue growth, which was up 44% in 2024 over 2023 ($125.8M vs. $87.2M, respectively).
But it’s not all sunshine and rainbows at the Mountain View, California company, which posted significant net losses for both 2024 and 2023 ($96.4M and $95.7M).
- As a public company, Heartflow may have a shorter leash in getting to profitability had it remained privately held.
But the bigger picture is what Heartflow’s IPO means for the imaging AI segment as a whole.
- It’s easily the biggest IPO by a pure-play imaging IT vendor in years, and dispels the conventional wisdom that investors are shying away from the sector.
The Takeaway
Heartflow’s IPO shows that in spite of clinical AI’s shortcomings (slow adoption, sluggish reimbursement, etc.), it’s still generating significant investor interest. The company’s focus on achieving both clinical and financial milestones (i.e. reimbursement) should be an example for other AI developers.
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AI-Assisted Fracture Detection
Gleamer’s BoneView AI solution helped radiologists detect fractures on radiographs of both adults and children in a meta-analysis of eight studies. Discover how it can help your practice today.
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How Intelerad Is Improving the Client Experience
Intelerad has launched a new client obsession initiative to improve the client experience with the company. We caught up with Chief Client Officer Eric Grunden to discuss the project in this episode of The Imaging Wire Show.
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Start at the Source to Improve MRI
Looking for ways to improve MRI speed and image quality while addressing broader concerns in healthcare? The answer may lie in proven MRI physics in your existing scanner – learn how to unlock it with STAGE from SpinTech MRI.
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- Workforce Shortage Hits Hospital: The U.S. radiology workforce shortage is getting real. A southern Illinois hospital closed its outpatient imaging centers for a week because the shortage of radiologists and radiologic technologists created delays in radiology report turnaround times. Anderson Healthcare closed most of its outpatient radiology services from August 6-13 as it sees TAT delays of seven days or more. The pause only affects non-urgent imaging, and the hospital said it hoped to have “additional support in place soon.”
- Hands Off Our Residents: It can be tempting to cover subspecialty workforce shortages by pulling residents off their scheduled rotations – but this reduces their training time. Researchers in Current Problems in Diagnostic Radiology tested the effectiveness of a “no pull” policy that minimized how much time residents were away from their scheduled rotations. The policy reduced annual resident “pull days” by 78% (2 vs. 9.3 days). Prior to the new policy, residents were pulled most frequently from musculoskeletal radiology, followed by emergency, pediatrics, and neuroradiology. Pulls for all decreased after the new policy.
- Remote NM Tech Program Launched: Nuclear medicine technologists are among the technologists in shortest supply. To help solve the crunch, nuclear medicine service and equipment distribution firm Catalyst MedTech partnered with Westmoreland County Community College in Pennsylvania on a fully online NM technologist training program that starts in January 2026. Students can begin training online and complete hands-on clinical rotations at healthcare facilities near where they live.
- Elucid Touts CCTA Plaque Coverage: Insurance giant UnitedHealthcare has begun covering arterial plaque quantification from coronary CT angiography exams, a move that’s being praised by cardiac AI developer Elucid, which markets the PlaqueIQ solution. UnitedHealthcare’s new guidelines align with those of radiology benefits manager EviCore and will apply to all health plans starting October 1. This marks a second milestone for plaque analysis developers after CMS proposed a Category I CPT code for CCTA with plaque analysis in its 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule.
- CCC + CAC Predicts Cardiovascular Woes: More evidence is coming in on the utility of CT-derived measures of costal cartilage calcium for predicting cardiovascular problems. In a paper in European Radiology, researchers added CCC measurements to conventional coronary artery calcium scores in people with diabetes. Among 1.4k people, adding CCC to CAC improved predictive power in older diabetics as measured by the C statistic for predictive accuracy (0.69 vs. 0.66), but had no effect in non-diabetics. CCC could be a sign of broader systemic non-cardiovascular calcification.
- Lung Screening Eliminates Racial Disparities: A CT lung cancer screening program that employed nurse navigators and recruited patients from primary care clinics eliminated racial healthcare disparities in Cincinnati, Ohio. In a paper in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, researchers assessed results from screening 2.6k patients, finding similar lung cancer incidence rates between Black and White patients (3.3% vs. 3.9%, p = 0.46), no differences in delays to care, and equitable surgical resection rates (64% vs. 63%, p = 0.95).
- Getting Comfortable without Gonad Shielding: Gonad shielding is no longer recommended for patients getting pelvic radiography exams, but old habits die hard. University of Michigan researchers discontinued routine gonad shielding and then measured changes in staff awareness of the new policy before and after an educational campaign. They found awareness sharply increased (75% vs. 26%), with radiology staff showing higher awareness than non-radiology personnel (91% vs. 45%). The percentage of staff expressing comfort with the new discontinuation policy also rose (49% vs. 28%).
- Crowd-Sourced AI Performs Well: A crowd-sourced competition hosted by RSNA saw over 1.5k teams submit mammography AI algorithms from around the world, and combining the top-performing models achieved diagnostic performance close to radiologists. The challenge began in 2023 and was summarized in a new paper in Radiology. Teams trained algorithms on a dataset of 11k screening cases, with all algorithms turning in 99% specificity for confirming no cancer. Combining the top 10 and top three algorithms into an ensemble model achieved sensitivity of 61% and 68%, respectively.
- Rhapsody Debuts Image Orchestration: Digital health company Rhapsody is ramping up its activities in radiology with the launch of Rhapsody Image Director. The image orchestration software simplifies the routing of imaging data from modalities like CT and MRI to destinations like PACS, VNAs, and cloud archives. Image Director works with Rhapsody’s other integration solutions to unify imaging and clinical data workflows.
- SNMMI Launches Clinical Trial Finder: SNMMI this week launched a new platform to help researchers, clinicians, and patients find in-progress radiopharmaceutical clinical trials. The Global Radiopharmaceutical Trial Finder is designed to eliminate barriers to trial participation with an easy-to-use interface that’s updated every 24 hours with new trial data from ClinicalTrials.gov and three additional registries.
- FDA Clears POCUS Elastography: The FDA cleared Velacur ONE, a point-of-care ultrasound scanner for dedicated elastography developed by Sonic Incytes Medical. Velacur ONE is a laptop-sized scanner that’s targeted at the private office market and follows the 2024 FDA approval of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals’ Rezdiffra, the first therapeutic drug for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, an underdiagnosed liver condition. Sonic Incytes expects increased demand for elastography to measure liver stiffness as a noninvasive test for MASH.
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Transform Your Practice into a Multispecialty Powerhouse
Medality is the practice development platform that helps radiologists upskill in high-growth, advanced imaging areas. Request a demo today and discover how to transform your practice into a multispecialty powerhouse.
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Radiology Academy – Medical Education on Demand
Visit Calantic Radiology Academy by Bayer, where you’ll find the latest keynotes and symposium sessions on the use of artificial intelligence in radiology, ranging from challenges facing AI to bias in machine learning.
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Ensuring the Safety and Well-Being of Patients Undergoing MR
It’s important to create a safe environment for every patient, every scan. Unlock how thoughtful planning and innovative technology from Philips can reduce risks and enhance care during MRI procedures.
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- Unprecedented Insights Made Possible with AI: With the largest normative dataset of whole-body imaging in the world, Prenuvo’s AI researchers partner with the best academic minds to understand – like never before – what “normal” aging means. Learn about their work today.
- AI Echo for Cardiac Amyloidosis Now Available: Us2.ai’s AI Echo Copilot now includes a feature to assist in the detection of cardiac amyloidosis, a serious and frequently under-diagnosed condition. Discover more about this FDA-cleared and CE Marked capability.
- Transform Imaging Data into Actionable Predictions: When you choose Quibim, you get more than a partner for detecting and diagnosing prostate cancer on MRI scans. Learn how they can help you transform imaging data into actionable predictions by booking a demo today.
- How to Standardize CT Images: The quality and appearance of CT scans can vary considerably. In this white paper from Riverain Technologies, find out how image normalization can standardize CT images, making them easier to analyze and interpret.
- Presenting Unboxing AI: Check out CARPL’s video series, Unboxing AI, featuring experts discussing AI and its future in radiology. The next episode on August 14 features Stefan Iarca of Rayscape – reserve your seat today.
- The Future of Fluoroscopy Is Here: The future of fluoroscopy has arrived. The LUMINOS Q.namix fluoroscopy systems from Siemens Healthineers are available on the U.S. market. Discover why they have already earned the prestigious Red Dot Design Award for intuitive design and user-centric innovation.
- AI and Neuroradiology Workflow: How can AI add value to workflows in neuroradiology? Watch this on-demand video to learn from Blackford partners how AI can help, from assisting providers in managing acute stroke patients to the impact of CPT III codes in driving adoption of brain volumetric AI solutions.
- Ahead in the Cloud: What do healthcare providers need to consider as they adopt cloud-based solutions for medical imaging? Read this article written for Mach7 Technologies by Eliot Siegel, MD, to learn the important role cloud-based technologies are having in shaping the future of healthcare.
- Advancing AI-Driven Data Migration: Enlitic has joined forces with GE HealthCare to power the data migration feature in GE’s newly announced Genesis cloud portfolio. Learn how Enlitic’s AI-driven data migration facilitates large-scale transfers of high-quality medical imaging data.
- DeepHealth Completes iCAD Acquisition: DeepHealth has completed its acquisition of mammography AI developer iCAD. Discover how the combination advances DeepHealth’s mission to address clinical and operational challenges in screening and diagnosis by harnessing the power of AI and imaging.
- Unlock Next-Generation AI with Foundation Models: Learn about Microsoft’s new family of cutting-edge multimodal medical imaging foundation models designed for healthcare organizations to test, fine-tune, and build tailored AI solutions specific to their needs, while minimizing extensive compute and data requirements.
- Denoising AI’s True Potential for Medical Imaging: What is AI’s true potential in medical imaging? Find out in this American Hospital Association podcast with United Imaging CEO Jeffrey Bundy, PhD, and United Imaging Intelligence CEO Terrence Chen, PhD.
- Purchasing a Cloud-Hosted Enterprise Imaging Solution: The decision to move your enterprise imaging to the cloud is significant. But how do you choose the right solution? Discover the 10 critical questions to ask in this guide from AGFA HealthCare.
- The Benefits of Structured Reporting: Kailo Medical hopes to revolutionize radiology with its structured reporting solutions. At SIIM 2025, we talked to Lauren Therriault and Denholm Rhys about the latest developments at the company and why structured reporting is a benefit to radiologists.
- Enterprise Imaging in Action: Find out how Presbyterian Healthcare increased patient engagement and met regulatory requirements by image-enabling their patient portal in this downloadable white paper from Merge.
- Revolutionizing 3D Imaging: Learn how Visage Imaging is revolutionizing 3D imaging for radiology with its Visage Ease VP solution for the Apple Vision Pro headset in this video with Steve Deaton, director of customer experience.
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