SARC MedIQ Helps Providers Prepare for UnitedHealthcare’s 2026 Radiology Reporting Policy

Silicon Valley, CA — January 2026 — UnitedHealthcare has issued a reimbursement policy update effective April 1, 2026, requiring providers to submit a standalone written radiology interpretation report in order to receive reimbursement for the professional component of radiology services billed on the same day as an Evaluation & Management (E&M) visit. When such documentation is not provided, the professional interpretation will be bundled into the E&M payment. The policy applies when the same provider bills both services and requires that interpretation reports align with American College of Radiology (ACR) guidelines.

For large medical groups and multispecialty practices, this change introduces a significant operational and compliance challenge. Imaging interpretation documented only within E&M notes will no longer qualify for separate reimbursement, increasing the risk of revenue leakage and audit exposure. As imaging becomes more tightly integrated into routine patient encounters, organizations must ensure their documentation workflows can reliably produce compliant, standalone radiology reports, without adding documentation burden for providers or slowing clinical throughput.

SARC MedIQ’s AI Dictate (powered by AizaMD) is designed to address this challenge by automatically generating structured, payer-ready radiology interpretation reports as part of the clinician’s normal workflow. By embedding compliant reporting directly into the imaging review process, AI Dictate helps organizations align documentation with evolving payer requirements while maintaining efficiency at scale. Upperline Health, one of the nation’s largest value-based specialty care organizations, recently adopted SARC MedIQ’s AI Dictate to streamline imaging documentation across its provider network, demonstrating how enterprise healthcare groups can proactively prepare for regulatory and reimbursement changes without compromising patient care.

“Payer policies are evolving faster than most clinical workflows can keep up with. Our goal is to give providers a way to stay compliant without slowing down patient care or adding documentation burden,” said Asaad Hakeem, CEO of SARC MedIQ. “AI Dictate was built to solve real operational problems at scale, and this UnitedHealthcare change is exactly the type of challenge we designed it for.”

With AI Dictate, provider groups can seamlessly incorporate ACR-aligned, standalone radiology reports into their existing workflows, helping ensure compliance, protect revenue, and support consistent documentation quality as payer standards continue to evolve.