McLaren Health Care, a Michigan-based health system, is launching an AI-powered screening program to identify patients at risk of cardiovascular disease using existing CT scans already on file. The program was expected to be live by late February or early March and will assess thousands of high-risk patients within the first year, connecting them to preventative care before symptoms of heart disease appear.
The AI-powered Carebricks platform, developed through a partnership with California-based biotech company Bunkerhill Health, uses algorithms approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to measure incidental coronary artery calcium and incidental aortic valve calcium—indicators for common forms of heart disease that can worsen over time if left untreated. According to Dr. Samer Kazziha, chief medical director of the McLaren Heart & Vascular Institute, the program “enables us to identify patients who may benefit from earlier follow-up, often before symptoms appear, and ensures they are connected to the right care at the right time.”
In its first year, McLaren plans to screen approximately 40,000 CT scans performed for other medical reasons in the prior year—scans that may have been conducted for complaints such as trouble breathing, chest pain, or to assess for pneumonia or lung disease. This approach captures cardiovascular indicators that might otherwise be missed, as opportunities to detect heart disease early have largely been lost due to the need for specialized CT imaging scans and time-consuming clinical reviews.
Dr. Justin Klamerus, McLaren’s chief clinical officer, likened the program to DNA discovery “in terms of its transformative powers for medicine,” noting that “much of cardiovascular disease is preventable if we could recognize signs earlier.” McLaren is the first Michigan health system to deploy this AI program for analyzing existing CT scans. In the U.S., cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death annually, responsible for 26,221 deaths in Michigan in 2024, representing about 25.5% of all deaths.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://www.macombdaily.com/2026/02/22/how-a-michigan-health-system-is-using-ai-to-prevent-heart-attacks/