Signify Premium Insight: When Money Talks, AI Now Has a Voice

Background 

Viz.ai has become the first company to be granted a New Technology Add-on Payment (NTAP) for artificial intelligence software by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).  The ruling was made for Viz.ai’s stroke software, ContaCT which seeks to streamline acute care and improve outcomes for patients at the same time as reducing costs for providers, and was awarded after Viz.ai was able to sufficiently demonstrate that it met the CMS criteria of newness, cost and clinical improvement. 

The platform has been granted a payment of up to $1,040 per use, a reimbursement figure derived from Viz.ai’s subscription-based model and the resultant cost to providers. This level of reimbursement will empower hospitals to deploy the system, without shouldering an untenable financial burden. 

Vendor Impact

• AI players have a model for attaining CMS NTAP approval
• Companies with ‘substantially similar’ technologies could be covered under the Viz.ai ruling
• Vendors can refer to Viz.ai success story as a precedent to help secure funding.