The era of AI assistants that merely advise clinicians may be giving way to something more ambitious: autonomous agents that directly manage patient care. Tempus AI has secured up to $9.5 million from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to develop and clinically validate an AI system designed to deliver and coordinate heart failure care without requiring direct human intervention at every step.

The funding comes through ARPA-H's ADVOCATE program and targets a significant care gap in American cardiology. According to the announcement, more than 6 million Americans live with heart failure, yet fewer than 25% receive all guideline-recommended care. The challenge is compounded by workforce shortages, with approximately 46% of U.S. counties lacking a practicing cardiologist.

How the Autonomous Agent Will Work

Tempus's planned system will continuously monitor both clinical data from electronic health records and consumer-generated information from home-based heart-rate monitoring devices. The AI agent is designed to manage patient symptoms, adjust medications, coordinate virtual rehabilitation, handle scheduling, and document care in electronic health record systems.

The company plans to validate the technology through a multicenter prospective study, building on its existing cardiovascular AI infrastructure. Tempus has already deployed three FDA-cleared ECG-AI products for identifying cardiovascular disease risk, and its Tempus Next platform has screened more than 2.7 million cardiology patients for care gaps. The new autonomous agent will also integrate with Olivia, Tempus's agentic patient concierge system for multimodal health information.

"We are honored to receive this award from ARPA-H and look forward to demonstrating how agentic AI can address the critical shortage of cardiovascular care providers while improving outcomes for patients with heart failure," said Brandon Fornwalt, M.D., Ph.D., Senior Vice President of Cardiology at Tempus, in the announcement.

From Decision Support to Autonomous Care

The project represents a notable shift in clinical AI development. While most current AI healthcare tools function as decision-support systems that flag risks or suggest actions for clinician review, autonomous agents are designed to execute care coordination tasks independently. This raises both opportunities and questions about the appropriate scope of AI autonomy in clinical settings.

For healthcare systems struggling with cardiologist shortages, particularly in rural and underserved areas, the technology could extend clinical capacity by handling routine monitoring, medication titration, and patient engagement between office visits. The ARPA-H validation study will likely provide crucial evidence on whether such systems can safely assume responsibilities traditionally requiring direct clinician oversight.

Tempus's existing patient database and FDA-cleared cardiovascular products position the company to lead development in this emerging category of autonomous clinical AI. The outcome of this federally funded validation effort may influence how quickly healthcare systems adopt AI agents that move beyond assistance to independent care coordination.

Sources

  1. Tempus Secures Up To $9.5 Million From ARPA-H To Develop Autonomous AI Agent For Heart Failure Care — pulse2.com