HOUSTON, March 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — First lifetime payer-perspective economic analysis of AI-assisted risk stratification for indeterminate pulmonary nodules (IPN). Led by researchers at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, a new study reports that Optellum’s FDA-cleared Lung Cancer Prediction (LCP) AI assisted risk stratification for indeterminate lung nodules is cost-effective from a US payer perspective. Optellum’s LCP AI supports more consistent long nodule management and helps enable earlier diagnosis of lung cancer. This is particularly relevant as healthcare systems continue to see an increasing volume of CT scans and incidentally detected lung nodules.
Researchers led by Dr. Caroline Godfrey developed a decision-analytic model representing guideline-aligned care for patients with indeterminate lung nodules from a lifetime payer perspective. Results show that AI-supported clinician risk stratification is associated with improved life expectancy compared with clinician assessment alone, with an incremental cost of about $114 per patient using reimbursement of $650 based on Medicare hospital outpatient payments for CPT codes 0721T and 0722T. [1] This yields an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of $4,485 per life-year gained (LYG), well below commonly used willingness-to-pay (WTP) thresholds of $100,000 per LYG. This marks the first study to show that an AI-assisted risk stratification of lung nodules can be highly cost-effective.
Lung nodules are increasingly detected incidentally or through routine CT imaging and lung cancer screening (LCS) programs. However, determining which nodules are malignant remains a clinical challenge. Practical, sustainable AI-enabled tools can help clinicians to more accurately evaluate and prioritize patients by malignancy risk, thereby supporting earlier diagnosis and reducing unnecessary invasive procedures to help improve the cost-effectiveness of healthcare delivery.
About Optellum
Optellum is a commercial-stage AI healthcare company dedicated to revolutionizing early diagnosis and treatment of lung disease, starting with one of the deadliest, lung cancer. Optellum’s flagship product, Virtual Nodule Clinic (VNC) with Lung Cancer Prediction AI (LCP), is the world’s first and only FDA-cleared and reimbursed software-as-a-medical-device (SaMD) solution for AI-powered lung cancer prioritization and diagnostic support. Clinicians trust the Optellum solution to aid them in making the most appropriate life-saving treatment decisions for their patients. Backed by real-world clinical evidence, Optellum’s solution accelerates the diagnostic care pathway by enabling early patient identification, enhancing prioritization, and improving clinicians’ efficiency, reducing time to guideline-recommended treatment. Optellum VNC is FDA cleared, CE-MDR marked, TGA approved, and UKCA marked.
Optellum is headquartered in Oxford, UK, and has an office at the Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas, US.
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[1] https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/11/25/2025-20907/medicare-program-hospital-outpatient-prospective-payment-and-ambulatory-surgical-center-payment Â
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