Healthcare leaders are staring down a grim reality: rising costs, fragmented workflows, and an administrative burden that eats away at clinical focus. With nearly $500 billion wasted annually on administrative inefficiencies, the need for intelligent automation has never been clearer. Agentic AI—independent, context-aware digital agents—is emerging as one of the most promising solutions to this challenge.

But with the rapid growth of vendor offerings, the question is no longer if you should adopt agentic AI. It's how—and with whom.

This blog, the sixth installment in our Mastering AI Agents in Healthcare series, distills key insights from our new market research report: Navigating the Rapidly Emerging Agentic AI Vendor Solution Landscape. The report provides healthcare organizations with a framework to evaluate vendor capabilities and options, zeroes in on key trends, and provides a strategic lens to deploy agentic AI solutions that fit their needs.

Decoding Agentic AI

Think of agentic AI as the natural evolution of existing healthcare automation-but significantly more advanced. Unlike traditional rule-based automation, these intelligent assistants operate with contextual awareness alongside clinicians and administrators, not replacing them. They offer 24/7 support by skillfully managing specialized healthcare workflows, focusing on:

• Data Synthesis: Siloed data is a persistent challenge in healthcare. Agentic AI breaks down those walls, aggregating and interpreting information to provide actionable insights that drive smarter decision-making.

• Decision Support: In today’s high-pressure environments, these agents can deliver context-aware recommendations, guiding decisions in real-time.

• Task Automation: By automating routine tasks, Agentic AI frees up valuable clinician time, allowing them to focus on what matters most: patient care.

• Personalized Engagement: Agentic AI facilitates tailored interactions, boosting patient and member satisfaction through personalized experiences.

In short, agentic AI empowers healthcare organizations to streamline workflows, enhance data utility, support key decisions, and personalize engagement – capabilities that promise to alleviate administrative overhead while improving care outcomes.

A recent McKinsey report estimated that AI can generate up to $410 billion in annual value for the healthcare industry. Agentic AI is poised to play a pivotal role in realizing that potential.

A Multi-Billion Dollar Opportunity

Our healthcare system is struggling—and we all feel it. The frustration of long wait times, the financial burden of unnecessary treatments, and the stress of navigating complex systems when we're at our most vulnerable.

But there's hope on the horizon. Agentic AI comes in as a powerful ally that could transform healthcare as we know it.

The numbers tell a powerful story:

Healthcare organizations could reclaim $75-100 billion by eliminating wasteful spending—money that could go toward improving patient care instead of being lost to inefficiency.

Think about the 20-30 billion dollars currently spent on paperwork and administrative tasks. That's not just money—it's countless hours that medical professionals could be spending with patients instead of forms.

Or consider this: $26 billion is lost to patients bouncing back to hospitals after being discharged too soon or without proper follow-up. That's not just a financial statistic—that's thousands of people suffering preventable setbacks in their recovery.

Personalized care could save another $5-10 billion while giving patients the support they truly need when they need it most.

These aren't abstract projections. They represent real opportunities to make healthcare more affordable, more effective, and more human—allowing providers to focus on what matters most: caring for people.

Game-Changing Use Cases for Payers and Providers

The true power of Agentic AI lies in its practical applications. Let's explore specific use cases for both payers and providers.

Enabling payers to build a smarter, more efficient operation

Payers face a constant battle against rising costs and declining member satisfaction. Agentic AI offers a suite of solutions to address these challenges:

• Automated Claims Management: Reducing delays and denials through intelligent claims processing.

• Streamlined Utilization Management: Improving pre-authorization efficiency and accuracy.

• Personalized Member Engagement: Delivering targeted communications to drive satisfaction and improve health outcomes.

• Advanced Risk Stratification: Identifying and engaging high-risk members with proactive interventions.

• Enhanced Payment Integrity: Detecting and preventing fraud to minimize financial losses.

• Improved Care Transitions: Coordinating care across teams to reduce readmissions and improve patient outcomes.

Positioning providers to deliver patient-centric care

For providers, Agentic AI promises to bridge gaps in care delivery, improve resource allocation, and personalize patient interactions. These use cases highlight how providers can achieve operational excellence while prioritizing patient outcomes:

• Streamlined Revenue Cycle Management: Accelerating claims processing and reducing denials.

• Proactive Patient Engagement: Automating reminders, delivering personalized education, and facilitating post-care feedback.

• Optimized Clinical Operations: Improving scheduling, bed utilization, and multidisciplinary care coordination.

• Integrated Care Coordination: Enhancing transitions of care and managing chronic conditions more effectively.

• Efficient Workforce Management: Automating scheduling and monitoring staff well-being to optimize workforce utilization.

• Data-Driven Population Health: Identifying at-risk populations and automating outreach to address gaps in care.

• Improved Patient Access & Navigation: Simplifying appointment scheduling and providing navigation assistance.

• Efficient Facilities Management: Optimizing maintenance, energy usage, and space utilization.

Cutting Through the Agentic AI Vendor Noise 

The agentic AI market is expanding rapidly, presenting healthcare organizations with more vendor choices than ever. We categorize vendors into four distinct groups:

• Platform Companies (e.g., Google, Azure): Offering highly customizable agent-building capabilities with robust orchestration and RAG enablement.

• RPA Companies (e.g., UiPath, Automation Anywhere): Evolving beyond task automation to offer contextual agents with advanced orchestration and RAG features.

• SaaS Companies (e.g., Salesforce): Providing agent-building capabilities integrated with existing workflows and strong orchestration within their ecosystems.

• Emerging Startups (e.g., LangChain, Crew.AI, Akira AI): Delivering innovative, developer-friendly agent-building tools with flexible orchestration and leading-edge RAG capabilities.

Each type of vendor offers unique strengths and considerations:

To see the full high-level comparison of leading vendors across 13 dimensions, download our free report. 

The Path Forward:

AI is already transforming healthcare around us, and organizations that embrace these tools now are solving today's problems while building tomorrow's advantages. Finding your perfect AI partner isn't about chasing the newest tech; it's about having a deep understanding of your organization's specific needs and technical capabilities.

Taking Your First Steps

• Stay Informed: The AI landscape changes daily. Connect with peers, join healthcare innovation forums, and create space for your team to share discoveries. Knowledge shared becomes power multiplied.

• Assess Vendor Solutions: Look beyond flashy demos. Ask potential partners: "How will this make our patients' lives better? How will this lighten our team's load?" The right solution should answer both questions convincingly.

• Develop a Clear Roadmap: Don't try to transform everything overnight. Begin with an AI Planning Workshop where your frontline staff—those who know your challenges best—can help identify where AI could make the biggest difference right away.

This journey isn't just about new software. It's about reimagining how we care for people. It means empowering nurses to spend more time at bedsides instead of computer screens. It means giving doctors tools that enhance their expertise rather than bureaucracy that diminishes it. It's about building a healthcare system that remembers the "care" in healthcare.

Our follow-up article, Agentic AI Playbook for Healthcare and IT Leaders,offers practical guidance for turning these possibilities into your organization's reality.