Radiology AI Platform Pricing and What Blackford AI Costs

The short answer: Blackford, CARPL, deepc, Ferrum Health and Aidoc aiOS publish no platform list price, so radiology AI platform pricing requires an itemized quote. Five public NIH Blackford awards total $265,000, but these purchases by one research institution do not establish an enterprise hospital price. After Azra AI completed its Blackford acquisition on October 20, 2026, existing customers also need written answers about renewals, app access and data sharing.

Sources are the verified ownership and trade coverage, vendor-stated catalogs, openFDA 510(k) records and USAspending.gov prime awards collected October 25, 2026. Hypothetical calculation inputs below are explicitly labeled and are not supplier prices.

Start with the Blackford AI alternatives comparison if you are deciding whether to retain the platform or replace it. This guide addresses the separate purchasing question, including the limits of the public evidence.

How AI orchestration platforms are priced

Separate platform access from the algorithms it runs. Ask whether the proposal uses a platform subscription, separate per-app fees, revenue sharing or a combination. These are quote structures to investigate, not verified commercial terms for every supplier. A catalog listing does not establish that an app license, integration or support is included.

A platform subscription should identify the covered deployment and contract period. Per-app fees need named products and a billing unit. A revenue-share proposal needs to explain the underlying amount, who pays the share and whether it is already included in the app charge. Request those definitions before adding the lines together.

An analyst quoted by trade press said the model needs heavy usage to justify a 30% platform fee. That remark is not a published Blackford rate and should not be inserted into a budget as one. Ask a supplier to disclose any platform share in writing and explain how it affects the total payable.

No orchestration vendor discussed here publishes a list price. Our guide to per-algorithm radiology AI cost addresses that part of the budget. Compare it with radiology AI platform and marketplace options to establish whether you need app orchestration or reading support.

What Blackford has actually cost a federal buyer

The verified USAspending.gov recipient search identifies five Blackford prime awards, all from the National Institutes of Health. Their total is $265,000. Preserve the dates and descriptions when using them as procurement evidence.

These purchases concern one research institution, not an enterprise hospital price. The first description specifies one year, while others name engineering resources or maintenance and support. The records do not establish comparable terms, app entitlements or an annual price trend. Blackford also holds Veterans Health Administration contracts, but these NIH amounts do not price those VA relationships.

The verified prime-award searches found none for CARPL, Ferrum Health or Azra AI and no attributable deepc award. A search for DEEPC returned unrelated companies. These limits on public evidence do not establish that the vendors lack customers or reseller sales.

What CARPL, deepc, Ferrum and Aidoc aiOS publish

None publishes a platform price. Catalog size is vendor-stated, and an FDA record for a named device does not clear every app in a marketplace. Use the shortlist to request an exact US product list.

deepc says only selected medical devices on deepcOS are FDA-cleared for US use and accepts apps with CE mark and/or FDA clearance. Ferrum describes private deployment with patient data inside the health system firewall, plus validation and monitoring on local data. Confirm those deployment claims in the proposed agreement.

Blackford cited 130+ applications from 45+ partners at closing, compared with 150+ apps from 60+ developers in September 2025 coverage. Both figures appear in its materials, so the exact reduction is uncertain. Its K142337 record, dated March 19, 2015 under LLZ, covers image registration, not AI orchestration. GE True PACS and Centricity PACS integration is a concrete reason to evaluate retaining Blackford.

Illustrative total cost for a platform and three apps

Hypothetical inputs, not vendor prices. Assume an annual platform subscription of $12,000 and three app licenses at $4,000 each annually. Every platform and app figure in this example is invented solely for calculation. Replace each with a written quote. Assume eight reading radiologists share the work for the assistant comparison. That headcount is an example assumption, not a customer claim.

Only the Radiological.ai subscription rate is a real published price in this example. Practice covers X-ray and CT at $199 per reading radiologist per month billed annually or $399 month to month. Group adds MRI at $299 billed annually or $598 month to month. See the published plans and billing options.

This arithmetic compares budget structures, not equivalent functionality or promised savings. A practice using one to three triage or detection apps and wanting report drafting can evaluate an assistant for part of that stack. A health system running 10+ apps from many vendors still needs orchestration. Add separately quoted implementation, support and other charges before calling either calculation a complete cost.

What a platform quote should itemize

Use the contract collection as a checklist. Request documents and written scope before comparing totals or accepting an assurance that existing arrangements continue.

• Direct platform subscription. Pull the Blackford agreement and identify platform access, the billing basis, covered services and contract period. Request separate charges rather than relying on a bundled total.
• OEM bundle. Pull any agreement through an equipment partner such as GE HealthCare. Identify which party invoices and supports the platform and which contract controls continued access.
• Per-app agreements. Collect the AI vendor contracts, including direct agreements for apps running in production. Identify licenses, support responsibilities and what happens if the platform relationship ends.
• Control and exit clauses. Review change-of-control, assignment and termination-for-convenience provisions. Check renewal notice and any proposed pricing changes against the agreement that governs each service.
• BAA and subcontractors. Obtain the BAA, subcontractor chain and subprocessor list. Determine whether PHI reaches Azra and which agreement permits any transfer of images, metadata or algorithm outputs.
• Data return or destruction. Check termination obligations across the platform, OEM and app contracts. Agree on responsibilities for returning or destroying data before switching suppliers.

When tracking change-of-control, assignment and renewal clauses across the platform contract, the OEM bundle and each per-app agreement, contract management software that flags renewal and change-of-control dates can help organize the review, while your team checks the actual clauses and responsible counterparties.

What the Azra AI deal means for renewal pricing

Azra AI completed its acquisition of Blackford from Bayer via Sopris Capital on October 20, 2026. The terms were not disclosed. Blackford remains a separate legal entity, and the public commitment is to keep serving existing OEM partners and health system customers. Nothing public establishes pricing, renewal terms, the BAA or underlying AI vendor contracts.

That follows Bayer's September 2025 announcement that it would exit the sector and discontinue Calantic and Blackford services while fulfilling existing agreements. No discontinuation date was given. Existing customers should obtain a written account of their own service and renewal position, rather than treating either announcement as a contract amendment.

Azra focuses on incidental findings, cancer diagnoses and follow-up. Its stated plan is to route patients flagged by Blackford algorithms into Azra tracking and offer oncology tracking to Blackford customers. Ask which functions are available, separately priced or planned, and whether imaging data, DICOM metadata or outputs would flow to Azra under a new agreement.

Radiological.ai reads PACS over DICOM, flags suspected findings, reorders the worklist and drafts the structured report in the practice's template, with results returned over HL7 or FHIR. The radiologist reviews and signs every report. Use the Blackford and Calantic replacement shortlist to decide whether that assistant belongs alongside orchestration or can replace part of a smaller app stack.