What You Should Know:
– Eko Health, a leader in AI-powered cardiac and pulmonary care, announced today that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has finalized a national payment for its SENSORA® platform under the Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS).
– The landmark decision guarantees that hospitals and health systems can now receive crucial reimbursement for AI-enabled cardiac detection delivered right at the point of care in outpatient settings. The move is seen by industry experts as a decisive government endorsement of front-line AI tools designed to strengthen cardiac evaluation.
Financial Pathway for Early Detection
The finalized rule establishes a national payment rate that explicitly recognizes the clinical and economic value of using AI to support the early identification of heart disease within standard outpatient workflows. The SENSORA platform’s Category III CPT code (0962T) was assigned to APC 5734 in CMS’s July 2025 proposed rule, and its inclusion in the final rule signals growing institutional support for technologies that make healthcare smarter and more connected.
“This is a defining step toward making AI-assisted cardiac disease detection accessible to more patients across the country,” said Connor Landgraf, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Eko Health. “The CMS ruling confirms that earlier cardiac disease detection is clinically valuable and will now be financially supported, allowing hospitals and clinicians to integrate this technology sustainably into everyday care”.
Reducing Preventable Cardiac Deaths
Heart disease remains the single leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for nearly one in five deaths. Many serious conditions, including valvular heart disease, heart failure with reduced pump function (low ejection fraction), and atrial fibrillation, often go undetected until symptoms have significantly progressed.
The SENSORA platform directly tackles this detection gap:
- Real-time Insights: SENSORA integrates FDA-cleared and clinically validated AI algorithms with Eko’s digital stethoscopes.
- Point-of-Care Analysis: It helps clinicians identify potential low ejection fraction, structural murmurs, and atrial fibrillation within seconds during a standard cardiac exam.
- Improved Outcomes: This provides timely information that can dramatically improve care coordination and treatment decisions.
Validated Science Meets Commercial Scale
The CMS finalization now moves this scientifically validated technology out of early adopter status and into a clear, financially viable pathway for mainstream adoption. Eko Health, which has sold over 650,000 devices worldwide, will now focus on collaborating with integrated health networks, hospitals, and payer partners to support training, adoption, and reimbursement readiness across ambulatory and outpatient care settings.
The ruling solidifies the idea that reliable temperature control will underpin both patient safety and commercial success for CGTs.
