Justine Jamero
Dr. Arthy Saravanan
Every year, millions of women undergo mammograms to screen for breast cancer. What many don’t realize is that the same image may also reveal their risk for another, often silent threat: cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death among women in the United States.
Thanks to advances in artificial intelligence (AI), clinicians can now use routine mammograms to identify breast arterial calcifications (BAC), a marker associated with heart disease and stroke. These insights require no additional appointments, imaging tests, or radiation exposure. They simply use the information already available.
This is exactly the kind of common-sense innovation our healthcare system needs to embrace. Unfortunately, payment policies have not kept pace.
One example is Radiology Partners’ Mammo Enhance Heart™ program, which uses an FDA-cleared AI tool to identify BAC during routine mammograms. Research shows that women with BAC are approximately 51 percent more likely to develop heart disease or stroke. By identifying at-risk women earlier, AI can help connect patients with appropriate follow-up care before serious symptoms emerge.
The program effectively creates a two-for-one screening opportunity. Importantly, specialists remain at the center of the process. Radiologists review and confirm the AI’s findings and share results with patients and their referring providers. This is what responsible AI adoption looks like – technology augmenting clinical expertise rather than replacing it.
Yet many women cannot access these healthcare innovations because our payment system was not designed to support them. Current reimbursement models pay for isolated clinical services but not for the infrastructure needed to connect them, such as the implementation of safe, responsible AI, which includes validation, clinician training, workflow integration and ongoing monitoring.
In fact, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently acknowledged the growing importance of AI by recognizing certain AI-enabled software as a medical technology worthy of reimbursement consideration. While an important first step, the mere recognition of AI as a clinical technology is not the same as creating a sustainable pathway for its adoption.
Washington has recognized AI as a medical technology. It now needs to pay for the infrastructure that allows patients to benefit from it.
Without support for these foundational capabilities, many hospitals and health systems simply cannot afford to adopt proven AI tools, limiting patient access and slowing innovation.
Policymakers should modernize reimbursement to support the infrastructure that enables responsible AI adoption. A payment model that helps health systems build these capabilities would allow more women to benefit from clinically validated technologies while ensuring appropriate oversight and accountability.
The promise of AI in women’s health is no longer theoretical. It is already helping clinicians identify risk earlier and giving women information that could save their lives. A mammogram that can help detect both breast cancer and heart disease is a powerful reminder of what’s possible when smart innovation meets existing clinical care.
Dr. Arthy Saravanan is the Associate Chief Medical Officer for Radiology Partners. Justine Jamero, MHA, co-leads health policy and advocacy at Radiology Partners.
Radiology Partners, Inc., through RP Clinical Services and its managed practices, together with Mosaic Clinical Technologies, Inc., its technology and AI division, is the leading provider of technology-enabled radiology services in the U.S., serving more than 3,400 hospitals and other healthcare facilities with high-quality radiology, technology and artificial intelligence solutions. As a physician-led and physician-owned practice, our mission is to transform radiology by innovating across clinical value, technology, and service, while elevating the role of radiology and radiologists in healthcare. For the latest news from RP, follow along on our blog and on X, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube. Interested in learning about career opportunities? Visit our careers page.
