Aidoc Wins First AI Radiology NTAP

CMS approved a $137.53-per-case Medicare add-on payment for the first radiology foundation model. Here is what it means, why the clock is already ticking for everyone else, and three questions every radiology AI leader needs to answer before October.

For radiology AI, August 13, 2026 was a date worth circling. That is when CMS published the FY2027 Inpatient Prospective Payment System final rule and, buried in hundreds of pages of hospital payment policy, confirmed what the industry had been waiting years to see: a New Technology Add-on Payment for an AI-powered radiology triage tool.

The winner is Aidoc, whose CARE Multi-Triage CT Body (commercially known as BriefCase-Triage) will receive a maximum Medicare add-on payment of $137.53 per eligible inpatient case, effective October 1, 2026. But the number, while historic, is almost secondary to the strategic context in which it arrived. Because at the same moment CMS handed Aidoc its prize, it quietly shut the door on the shortcut most competitors have been counting on.

The alternative NTAP pathway, the fast lane that allowed FDA Breakthrough Device designation to substitute for hard clinical evidence of substantial improvement, is gone. Starting with FY2028 applications, every radiolo…