Redwood City, Calif.-based startup Heartflow Inc. has received a new technology ambulatory payment classification (APC) for its FFRct Analysis. This is an FDA-cleared, novel, noninvasive, coronary artery disease diagnostic that pairs deep learning with a conventional CT angiogram to create a digital 3-D model of the patient's coronary arteries. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) classification will make it easier to achieve reimbursement for FFRct, which is already partnered with Siemens Healthineers, GE Healthcare and Royal Philips. (See BioWorld Medtech, Aug. 30, 2017.)

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. – At a health care conference devoted to big ideas that could shift the future of care, med-tech startups were front and center. They brought forth a vision of a range of innovative technologies: using gene-editing CRISPR for at-home diagnostics, machine learning for more accurate imaging interpretation, bioelectronics for chronic diseases, virtual reality for surgical training, and liquid biopsy to detect asymptomatic, age-related diseases.

Abbott Laboratories, of Abbott Park, Ill., has had a lot on its plate. But now it's completed two major acquisitions this year and garnered a long-awaited FDA approval for the first continuous glucose monitor that doesn't require fingersticks for daily calibration, Freestyle Libre.