"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.
In an exclusive video, Stacey Wolfson, MD, and Beatriu Reig, MD, MPH, from the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, discuss the findings of their new analysis.
