After completing my 14-year training as a heart failure cardiologist, I faced a challenging reality in rural North Carolina, where I was the sole cardiologist for over 150,000 residents in a hospital facing bankruptcy. This experience highlighted the stark mortality gap due to chronic heart disease in rural areas. Alarmingly, only 2.5% of American patients are on recommended lifesaving medications. To address this, I joined ARPA-H and launched the ADVOCATE program, utilizing agentic AI for providing autonomous specialty care to patients with advanced heart disease. ADVOCATE will create patient-facing AI technologies for personalized heart failure management, along with supervisory agents for real-time oversight and health systems for effective deployment. By optimizing clinical workflows and facilitating 24/7 care access, ADVOCATE is projected to save over $50 billion annually. This initiative represents a transformative step in healthcare, paving the way for more AI-driven solutions addressing clinician shortages across various chronic conditions.
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