Douglas Flora, President-Elect at Association of Cancer Care Centers, shared by TensorBlack, on LinkedIn, adding:
“Reclassifying clinical AI: The Meaningful Use moment of our decade.
‘Adaptablilty is about the powerful difference between adapting to cope and adapting to win.’
– Max McKeown
When Medicare introduced ‘Meaningful Use’ over a decade ago, it transformed electronic medical records from an administrative expense into a fundamental requirement of clinical practice. We are now standing at an almost identical crossroads for clinical artificial intelligence.
In the latest 2027 Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) proposed rule, CMS has floated a major shift: moving away from generic software classifications and reclassifying AI tools under a dedicated ‘Software as a Medical Service’ framework, complete with distinct billing pathways and status indicators.
On this week’s episode of AI and Healthcare, healthcare policy expert Jordan Johnson joins us to break down what this means for health systems, clinical workflows, and revenue models. As usual, Jordan is steps ahead in analyzing how regulatory shifts translate to front-line care.
If you are leading digital transformation, managing a cancer center, or overseeing clinical technology, this episode outlines the operational reality coming in the years ahead.
Catch the full episode on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform. We drop new discussions every 14 days, and as we push toward our goal of reaching 100,000 subscribers this year, every share, subscribe, and review helps build this community.
Listen to the latest episode now and subscribe to keep up with the evolving landscape of healthcare technology.”
Quoting TensorBlack‘s post:
“Could AI be getting a CPT Code?
Last week CMS proposed something healthcare AI companies have been waiting years for: dedicated billing codes and a real reimbursement pathway. It’s not final yet, this is a proposed rule, open for comment before anything is locked in, but the signal is clear. AI is on track to stop being a ‘nice to have’ software add-on and start being a billable clinical service.
Sanjay Juneja, M.D. and Douglas Flora, pulled in healthcare attorney Jordan Johnson, MSHA, M.Jurr/MLS the same week the rule dropped to unpack what it actually means.
‘Accuracy gets you FDA clearance. Evidence gets you reimbursement. Documentation gets you paid. Governance keeps you trusted.’
A few gems from the episode:
- Algorithms become table stakes. Evidence becomes the competitive edge.
- Governance stops being a checklist and starts being a market differentiator.
- Healthcare AI companies will start looking like pharma companies: trials, evidence, post-market surveillance.
- First movers: radiology, pathology, and the unglamorous back-office wins like prior auth.
Proposed rules almost never disappear entirely, some version tends to move forward, but the details can shift a lot between now and the final ruling. Worth watching closely either way.”