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Every chest CT just became a billable heart screening.
Starting April 1, 2026, CMS is paying hospitals to use AI for detecting heart disease on routine chest scans.
This isn’t just another tech announcement. It’s a fundamental shift in how we think about preventive cardiology.
Here’s what just changed:
Bunkerhill Health secured the first-ever Medicare reimbursement pathway for AI analysis of coronary artery calcium (CAC) and aortic valve calcium (AVC) on chest CTs. Both contrast and non-contrast scans are covered under the new Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System billing codes.
Think about the implications.
Millions of chest CTs are performed annually for lung cancer screening, pneumonia workups, trauma assessments. Each one contains valuable cardiac data we’ve been ignoring.
Now hospitals can:
• Generate new revenue from existing scans
• Automatically flag high-risk patients for cardiology
• Catch heart disease years earlier
• Do it all without ordering additional tests
💡 The game-changer? This creates immediate ROI for AI adoption.
No more pilot program purgatory. No more “interesting but not billable” technology. CMS just gave health systems a clear financial incentive to implement AI cardiovascular screening at scale.
For imaging centers and FQHCs, this opens massive opportunities. You’re sitting on a goldmine of retrospective scans that could identify at-risk patients today.
The technology exists. The FDA clearance is done. The billing pathway is live.
The only question: How fast can you implement?
Because your competitors are already moving. And every unbilled chest CT is money left on the table.
This is how healthcare transformation actually happens. Not through mandates or grand proclamations, but through aligned financial incentives that make doing the right thing profitable.
April 1, 2026 may go down as the day preventive cardiology became a revenue center.
♻️ Repost if routine scans should catch heart disease early
👉 Follow me, Jonathan Govette, for daily, real-time updates on healthcare technology and business news. LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathangovette/
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Author:
CEO/Co-Founder @ Oatmeal Health | AI Lung Cancer Screening | Almost Became a Doctor | Engineer | Follow to Share What I’ve Learned Along the Way
I help patients get the care they need earlier, preventing late-stage cancer.
That’s been the throughline across three companies and almost 20 years in healthcare. At ReferralMD, we fixed broken referral networks so patients didn’t fall through the cracks. At Oatmeal Health, it’s lung cancer: building the diagnostic and screening infrastructure so the 85% of cases caught too late get caught early instead.
Today as CEO of Oatmeal Health, I lead a team embedding AI into radiology workflows to turn routine lung CT scans into reimbursable cancer risk assessments. We partner with FQHCs to reach underserved communities, and with health systems and payers to make early detection economically sustainable. Think HeartFlow or Cleerly, but for lungs.
Between companies, I advised at Techstars and Plug and Play, mentoring founders building in digital health. That experience shaped how I think about what separates companies that ship from companies that stall: distribution, reimbursement, and clinical trust, not just technology.
I’m a CancerX alumnus, a 3x healthcare founder, and someone who believes the biggest problems in cancer aren’t scientific. They’re operational.
We’re hiring mission-driven builders at Oatmeal Health. If you want to work on something that matters, reach out.
When I’m not working, I’m traveling, mentoring, and keeping up with one very energetic husky. 🐾
Substack – The Oatmeal Bite:
Millions of patients get less care because of who they are, where they live, or how they look. I’m fighting to change that. CEO @OatmealHealth, a startup built for the underserved. The Oatmeal Bite: intel for clinicians, investors, and advocates.
Jonathan Govette
CEO of Oatmeal Health
Substack:
https://oatmealhealthjonathangovette.substack.com/
