ARTICLE SUMMARY:
Agentic AI plans solicited to fill a cardiologist gap. Excerpted from Pathways’ Picks January 21: AI Cardiologist, Record-Setting FDA Approvals, EU Inspections Effort.
The US government is looking to support development of FDA-authorized agentic AI systems to autonomously manage patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD). The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) is soliciting formal proposals from companies, academics, health systems, and others to participate in one of three segments of the so-called ADVOCATE project.
For one segment, developers can propose plans for generative AI clinical agents designed to autonomously navigate cardiovascular patient care, guide diagnosis, and manage treatment, including prescriptions. Participants in this phase would collaborate closely with ARPA-H and FDA to develop agency-authorized technologies.
Those selected for the second segment would be tasked with developing a disease-agnostic “supervisory” AI agent to monitor and control the clinical agents while placing minimal burden on health systems. The solicitation explains that this agent “will need to fulfill the requirements for qualification as a Medical Device Development Tool (MDDT) by the FDA, which would allow it to become the industry standard tool for generative and agentic AI monitoring; therefore, enabling this industry to scale considerably.”
The third segment is intended to enroll health systems to generate plans for integrating the agentic AI platform into clinical settings at scale. The ADVOCATE program will require significant coordination between participants in the three sections to ensure the ultimate system can be safely employed without significant interaction by clinicians, ARPA-H emphasizes. “Nearly half of all US counties lack even a single practicing cardiologist, leaving millions without the expertise needed to manage and prevent CVD,” the agency states. “This systematic approach will unlock the power of agentic AI to transform CVD management, while creating a streamlined pathway for the use of agentic AI across all chronic diseases.” Summary proposals are due February 27 and full proposals must be submitted by April 1.