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AI Reduces Mammo Workload, No Surprises Reform, and ASCO 2026 News
June 1, 2026
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Together with
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“There’s an easy fix to all of the wasted healthcare resources spent on legal fights, countless IDR arbitrations, enormous IDR fee and administrative burden etc… fair and mutually beneficial, long term network contracts.”
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Rich Whitney, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Radiology Partners
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Enterprise imaging for radiology is evolving beyond traditional PACS and standardized workflows. In this edition of The Imaging Wire Show, I talked to Teri Thomas, CEO of Mach7 Technologies, and Barinder Dhillon, product manager at the company, about how healthcare organizations are prioritizing flexibility and interoperability as they update their enterprise imaging technology. Enjoy the show! – Brian Casey, Managing Editor
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Using AI to triage low-risk breast screening exams that don’t need extra review could remove more than three-quarters of mammography cases from radiologists’ workload and allow them to spend more time on high-risk cases. That’s according to a new study in Radiology: Artificial Intelligence that confirms other recent studies.
Much of recent mammography AI research has focused on its ability to triage low-risk cases to avoid additional radiologist review – saving precious personnel resources.
- This is particularly valuable in Europe, which uses a double-reading paradigm in which two radiologists review all mammography cases (the U.S. employs single readers but tends to screen women annually rather than every two years).
The new study comes from France, which employs a slightly different paradigm from the rest of Europe. Double reading is conducted only for lower-risk BI-RADS 1 and 2 cases, while BI-RADS 3-5 go directly to diagnostic workup.
- As such, double reading occurs with cases that have low cancer prevalence, which can make it more difficult for radiologists to detect cancers that don’t occur very often.
But what if you offloaded low-risk double reading to AI?
- In the new paper, researchers tried that with Therapixel’s MammoScreen AI algorithm, which was employed retrospectively to analyze mammograms from 42.4k women acquired from 2015 to 2019.
AI results were compared to standard radiologist double reading, with the following findings…
- AI classified 77% of cases as low-risk, meaning these could be safely triaged from the double-reading paradigm.
- AI missed only one cancer in the low-risk group, a rate the researchers characterized as “small but measurable.”
- Eleven cancers were found in the group AI classified as non-low-risk, which would have undergone double reading anyway in the AI triage paradigm.
- Rates of interval cancer (cancer that occurs between screening rounds) were 5X higher in the cases AI classified as non-low-risk compared to low-risk (2.16 vs. 0.47 cancers per 1k exams).
Using AI to classify and remove low-risk cases from double reading could therefore save significant resources from the French mammography screening program, with a “small but non-zero risk” of missed cancers.
The Takeaway
The new results track with findings from other recent studies that apply AI to mammography screening, particularly in Europe. While the French reading paradigm is unique, it’s instructive to see that AI maintains its ability to reduce radiologist workload across different types of breast cancer screening programs.
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IT Solutions for Radiologist Efficiency
Inefficiencies in reporting are some of the biggest challenges facing radiologists today. Learn how imaging IT solutions from Altamont Software can help radiologists work more efficiently in this Imaging Wire Show video.
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Preserve Your Radiography Investment
FutureProof 20 is Philips’ commitment to support their Radiography 7300 C for 20 years, helping you keep the system performing for decades, reducing total cost of ownership over the long run and letting you focus on the patient.
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Pioneering AI for Medical Imaging
With more than 40 clinical publications and real-world deployments, Gleamer combines scientific rigor and medical expertise to redefine AI for radiology. Learn more about the company’s pioneering suite of AI solutions on this page.
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- Federal No Surprises Reform: The U.S. No Surprises Act was supposed to prevent patients from getting hit with big bills for out-of-network care. But the act’s independent dispute resolution process has spun out of control – with over 5M disputes since launching in 2022 – amid legal fights between providers and insurers over reimbursement. To solve the impasse, CMS last week finalized a series of reforms to streamline the process, such as a batched dispute resolution mechanism and a centralized IDR Gateway for tracking claims. Medical societies applauded the change.
- Change in CT Lung Screening Criteria: More evidence suggests a change to CT lung cancer screening criteria would capture more eligible people. In a paper at ASCO 2026, researchers compared a proposed screening model based on 20-year tobacco smoking duration rather than USPSTF 2013 or 2021 guidelines based on pack-year smoking history. In 961k veterans from the VHA, the smoking-duration model would miss a smaller percentage of lung cancers than either USPSTF 2013 or 2021 (7.5% vs. 30% and 17%, respectively), while expanding eligibility in at-risk groups like Black individuals and women.
- Bad EHR Documentation Hinders Screening: The shortcomings of using pack-years as a smoking history metric were evident from another ASCO 2026 presentation. Researchers analyzed CT lung cancer screening adherence among women presenting for breast cancer screening at two Missouri healthcare institutions. Among 8.7k women with smoking histories, only 37% had pack-years documented in their EHRs, but those with documented pack-years were unsurprisingly over 3X more likely to get screened than those in the overall sample (AOR = 3.27).
- COVID’s Cancer Impact: The COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on cancer incidence and mortality was quantified in a study presented at ASCO 2026. Researchers analyzed data for 11 cancers from 2017 to 2022 and divided periods into pre- and post-pandemic phases. Breast cancer incidence rose 6% after the pandemic, although cancer-specific mortality fell slightly at 1.1%. Among other cancers, incidence rose for prostate and colorectal cancer, while mortality rose for pancreatic, prostate, and liver cancers. Mortality fell for lung cancer and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
- U.K. Panel Rejects Broader Prostate Screening: Growing momentum toward broader prostate cancer screening suffered a setback last week when a U.K. panel rejected population-based PSA screening in favor of targeted screening only of men at high risk. The U.K. National Screening Committee concluded that the harms of prostate screening outweighed the benefits, despite shifting evidence in favor of screening’s benefits, especially as MRI helps target follow-up to at-risk men and avoid unnecessary biopsies.
- Prostate MRI Use Surges in Netherlands: Meanwhile, a new study out of the Netherlands published in Insights into Imaging shows how MRI prior to prostate cancer biopsy has surged in the country. In a cohort of 51k men from 2015 to 2019, pre-biopsy MRI use more than quadrupled, from 17% to 74%. Researchers also found that variation in pre-biopsy MRI fell and shifted toward patients without advanced disease as hospitals adopted standardized clinical guidelines.
- Surge in Demand for Structured Reporting: The frenzy to replace legacy radiology reporting tools as Microsoft sunsets its PowerScribe 360 solution is having follow-on effects in the imaging IT segment. Altamont Software is reporting a surge in interest for DICOM Structured Reporting technology as healthcare institutions modernize outdated DICOM SR workflow engines. The company offers Passport SR, a solution for modernizing how structured data is captured, mapped, and inserted into radiology reports, eliminating the need to dictate measurements and reducing reporting times.
- Racial Differences in Alzheimer’s PET: Racial minorities like Black and Hispanic people are at greater risk of Alzheimer’s disease, but are less likely to show evidence of pathology on amyloid PET scans. In the New IDEAS study in Alzheimer’s & Dementia, researchers performed PET on 5.8k people with cognitive impairment, finding that compared to people of other races, Black and Hispanic individuals had lower odds of amyloid positivity (OR = 0.72 and 0.78, respectively), and thus were more likely to experience delayed diagnosis.
- New PET Tracer for Tau Detection: A new generation of PET radiotracers is helping guide Alzheimer’s disease treatments by detecting tau accumulation in the brain. But are even better agents on the horizon? In a new study in The Lancet, researchers compared one such radiotracer, MK6240, to the commercially available agent flortaucipir in a study with 782 people. MK6240 detected over twice as many tau-positive cases in cognitively unimpaired amyloid beta-positive people (15% vs. 6%), and also detected more tau involvement (28% vs. 16%).
- 4DMedical Signs with SimonMed: 4DMedical scored a major coup in its effort to disseminate its CT:VQ functional lung imaging technology more widely in the U.S., establishing a relationship with outpatient imaging services provider SimonMed. Under the three-year agreement, CT:VQ will be made available throughout SimonMed’s network of 170 imaging centers for quantitative pulmonary assessment, with pricing based on per-scan rates. The agreement also includes 4DMedical’s LDAf lung density analysis tool.
- Philips Adds Disney Content to MRI Experience: In a bid to improve the pediatric MRI experience, Philips is adding Disney content to its MRI Ambient Experience offering. Ambient Experience is designed to make patients feel more comfortable during imaging exams through dedicated sound and lighting, and Philips and Disney began collaborating in 2021 on a study that found Disney content reduced MRI-scan pediatric stress by 43% and scan pauses by 63%. Philips is now rolling Disney content out at no charge to Ambient Experience users.
- Upcoming Legislation Affecting Radiology: What upcoming federal legislation is most likely to affect U.S. radiology practices? Healthcare Administrative Partners offers a handy overview in a new blog post. Top on HAP’s list is the Provider Reimbursement Stability Act of 2026 (H.R. 8163), which would align annual Medicare Physician Fee Schedule adjustments to current economic trends. Other bills include a new iteration of the MARCA legislation supporting billing by radiologist assistants, reform of the No Surprises Act, and a revival of appropriate use criteria requirements for ordering scans.
- Sectra Installs AI Platform in Georgia: Sectra installed its Sectra Amplifier Services AI orchestration platform at Grady Health System, which operates 18 facilities in the Atlanta region. Grady clinicians can now deploy and manage a range of third-party AI applications directly within their clinical workflow, including solutions from Avicenna.ai and Therapixel. Grady signed a three-year contract with Sectra covering an expected annual volume of over 90k radiology exams.
- Sirona Lands Telerad Firm Everlight: Sirona Medical landed a contract to install its radiology workflow software at Everlight Radiology, a global provider of teleradiology services with over 800 radiologists reading from nine reporting hubs. Everlight will deploy Sirona’s cloud-based RadOS platform to replace its existing PACS and reporting solutions in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, the U.K., the UAE, and South Africa, marking Sirona’s first partnership outside the U.S.
- New Resource for Open-Source AI: Looking for a single location for open-source AI applications for radiology? Look no further than OpenRad, a curated database listing nearly 1.7k AI models for CT, MRI, X-ray, ultrasound, and other modalities. As described in a new article in European Radiology, OpenRad aims to consolidate open-source radiology models currently spread across multiple locations, and categorize them with descriptive metadata that enables easy searching through a central dashboard. OpenRad’s developers hope it will spur new efforts at AI benchmarking and discovery.
- United Imaging Installs Linac: Just a few weeks after debuting its radiation therapy systems at ESTRO 2026, United Imaging Healthcare Europe announced the first installation of its flagship uRT-linac 506c, at UPMC Italy, one of several hospitals the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center operates in Europe. The linac features a diagnostic-quality CT scanner for guiding treatment, with image acquisition prior to each treatment fraction.
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Connect Imaging Across Every Care Setting
Join Intelerad at SIIM 2026 to learn how you can connect across every care setting, eliminate disks, and accelerate diagnosis with a network clinicians trust. Book a demo today or drop by booth #305.
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A Radiology Question Bank with Analytics
Medality’s new DXIT/Core Radiology SmartBank powered by TrueLearn includes over 800 practice questions aligned to the Diagnostic Radiology In-Training and ABR Qualifying (Core) Exam Domain Blueprints. Assess your readiness for test day now.
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Elevating Breast Cancer Detection
Breast Suite from DeepHealth is a new package of AI-powered solutions delivering increased breast cancer detection rates, risk stratification tools, and viewing and reporting workflow acceleration. Find out how it can benefit your practice today.
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- Radiology Automation Simplified: CARPL is an enterprise-grade radiology AI validation and deployment platform with 250+ AI applications across 85+ AI vendors that empowers healthcare providers to access, assess, and securely integrate imaging AI in their practice. Book a demo today.
- Visit Quibim at ASCO 2026: Stop by Quibim’s booth at ASCO 2026 to learn how they are redefining the future of oncology through their innovative AI-based diagnostic and predictive imaging biomarkers. Book a meeting today or drop by at booth #27149.
- Join Sectra at SIIM 2026: Visit Sectra at SIIM 2026 as they showcase their complete enterprise imaging offering with Sectra VNA and award-winning Best-in-KLAS Sectra PACS for radiology, pathology, and cardiology at its core. Book a meeting or drop by at booth #407.
- Radiology Case Report: A female in her 40s without symptoms presented for screening mammography. Discover how information from contrast-enhanced MRI led to a finding of carcinoma.
- Building Bridges Across Imaging Informatics: Visit Medicom at booth #615 at SIIM 2026 to see how their automated workflows move every image to where it needs to go, connecting patients, providers, EHRs, and research teams without manual workarounds. Book your demo today.
- Therapy + Diagnostics = Renewed Hope: Theranostics is experiencing an exponential and global expansion as radioligand therapies give hope when other strategies have failed. Learn more about theranostics on this page from GE HealthCare.
- Fewer Biopsies, Better Accuracy: AI is converging with TI-RADS and BI-RADS in ways that go beyond automation. Read this article from Kailo Medical to learn how structured reporting is reducing unnecessary biopsies, improving consistency, and reclaiming clinical time.
- Experience Dynamic Simplicity in Fluoroscopy: Introducing LUMINOS Q.namix R and LUMINOS Q.namix T from Siemens Healthineers – truly multifunctional imaging systems designed to simplify your daily work routines and amplify your capabilities. Learn from your peers what makes LUMINOS Q.namix systems so special.
- Driving Efficiency in Radiology: Radiology’s workforce is under pressure. Discover evidence-based strategies for driving efficiency without burning out your staff in this e-book from Riverain Technologies.
- Providing the Best CT for Patients – with Confidence: Nashville General Hospital is an essential hospital, but they are determined to invest in CT technology that enables them to compete with larger facilities. Learn how they turned to Fujifilm’s Scenaria View CT scanner to accomplish both goals.
- Your PACS Wasn’t Built for Enterprise Imaging: Replace fragmented imaging workflows with a vendor-neutral enterprise imaging operating system from Mach7 Technologies that’s designed for interoperability, speed, and long-term flexibility. Learn more.
- KLAS-Leading Enterprise Imaging: Get set to see KLAS-leading enterprise imaging with AGFA HealthCare at SIIM 2026. Discover how their enterprise imaging IT technologies can empower your radiology facility at booth #308-310.
- One Viewer for All: Achieve ultrafast image interpretation with greater efficiency and precision with Visage 7 from Visage Imaging. Visage’s one-viewer philosophy enables all end users – from radiologists to clinicians – to access powerful tools based on clinical need.
- Meet Merge at SIIM 2026: Built with clinical and technical expertise, guided by customer insights, and personalized to your needs, Merge imaging solutions deliver reliable imaging, less complexity, and better care. Learn more by booking a meeting at SIIM 2026, or stop by booth #204-206.
- Breakthrough Innovation in Molecular Imaging: United Imaging is a trailblazer in molecular imaging, driven by a relentless commitment to revolutionary innovation and patient-centric solutions. Visit booth #2231 at SNMMI 2026 to discover how their continuous breakthrough innovation is expanding what’s possible.
- See Your One-Year Return in 30 Seconds: What’s the return on investment for echo AI? Check out this online calculator from Us2.ai to find out how much capacity AI adds, the additional echo scans that capacity buys you, and the net new revenue.
- Turning AI Insight Into Workflow Impact: At SIIM, the focus is shifting from pilots to real-world performance. See how modern reporting supports radiologist workflow without disruption. Heading to SIIM? Meet with Rad AI. Book a demo.
- A Breakthrough in Imaging Data Standardization: Enlitic’s Ensight 2.2 is a breakthrough in imaging data standardization that gives health systems a clearer, more detailed understanding of imaging data, accelerating the path from implementation to impact. Find out what it can do for you today.
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