Vascular surgeons perform procedures interventional cardiologists and interventional radiologists do not do—so why not make sure they are part of every heart team conversation?
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) has tested nearly 40 APMs, of which only two turned out to be successful, which does not bode well for meeting a 2030 deadline to transition to value-based payments.
Afnan Tariq, MD, discusses early data on a passive, device-agnostic AI platform for heart failure monitoring. “When clinicians are empowered with insights and able to act earlier, you're able to have a durable impact," he said.
Nick West, MD, Shockwave Medical's chief medical officer, detailed how the company is continuing to push IVL technologies forward. "We are leading the space ... we have no intention of giving up that position," he said.
"If you're not using an intravascular imaging modality, the PCI is not optimal," explained Haroon Faraz, MD, from Hackensack University Medical Center. Faraz is hopeful new and improved technologies will help these modalities become more popular among interventional cardiologists.
“Physical AI agents being able to actually deliver some of these services—all the way into robotic surgery—this is where we're going to see this next chapter of medicine be written,” said Kimberly Powell, vice president and general manager of healthcare at Nvidia.
Cardiology has largely shifted to hospital-employed models, driven by reimbursement compression and evolving physician priorities. This has created challenges as well as opportunities.
ASE President David Wiener detailed some of the many ways imaging societies need to adapt now that so many imagers are specializing in multiple modalities. It may be time to change how annual conferences are scheduled, for example, so that the costs of travel are easier to manage.
As of January 2026, there will only be two CPT category 1 payment codes for newer AI, despite there being hundreds of FDA-cleared medical imaging algorithms.
Herbert D. Aronow, MD, reviewed the many ways the reimbursement landscape is changing thanks to new Medicare policies. “This is a really exciting time in the renal denervation space," he said.
