ARPA-H Initiates Program to Develop FDA-Authorized Clinical AI for Cardiovascular Care
The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) has launched the Agentic AI-EnableD CardioVascular CAre TransfOrmation (ADVOCATE) program, committing up to $33.7 million in its first year. This four-year program, with a total budget of $62.7 million, aims to create the world's first reliable, FDA-authorized clinical agentic AI system for 24/7 cardiovascular care. The goal is to establish a digital member of the clinical care team that can autonomously support heart failure patients between visits and escalate to human care teams when necessary. Selected teams, including Atman Health, Tempus AI, and Updoc, will develop patient-facing clinical AI agents. Stanford University will develop a supervisory AI agent to monitor these clinical agents for safety and out-of-distribution behavior. Duke University and Kaiser Permanente will focus on scalable implementation strategies within health systems, particularly in rural and underserved communities. The program will engage the U.S. Food and Drug Administ...