Agentic AI in Healthcare—What’s Real, What’s Hype, and Why It Matters

Agentic AI—systems that act on data rather than just analyze it—is being hailed as a cure-all for the healthcare industry’s inefficiencies. Payers, providers, and pharma firms are investing fast. But how much of what’s being promised is actually feasible today, and how much is branding-driven hype?

In a new white paper, I explore the advertised, actual, and emerging uses of agentic AI in healthcare. From Salesforce’s acquisition of Informatica to UK-based “AI” firms exposed for running smoke-and-mirrors operations, it’s clear that the field needs clarity—and accountability.

This blog provides a preview of what you’ll find in that deeper dive.

​What’s Being Promised:

• Automated prior authorizations and appeals in payer operations
• Clinical documentation and decision support
• Ambient listening for providers
• AI agents in trial site selection and adverse event detection for pharma

What’s Working Now:

• Clinical ambient tools (Nuance DAX, Abridge, Suki) are helpful but still human-in-the-loop
• Automation of narrow workflows like intake triage or formulary lookups
• Some trial modeling, where data quality is strong and regulatory paths are clear

The Gap:

• APIs struggle with fragmented or unclean data
• Regulatory bodies still require auditability and explainability
• Firms overpromising agentic autonomy rarely disclose how brittle their models are

Consulting Firms: The Connective Tissue
It’s not just product companies shaping this space. Many consulting firms—Cognizant, Deloitte, EPAM, Accenture, Slalom, and others—play a unique hybrid role. They may:

• Build their own agentic tools (sometimes as ISVs)
• Partner with platform vendors like Salesforce or AWS
• Drive real-world implementation and integration of AI in healthcare settings

Far from adding confusion, these firms often bring much-needed structure, compliance rigor, and domain context. They’re helping AI move from lab demo to daily workflow.

Case in Point:

British “AI” firm Repliq was exposed by the Financial Times for passing off manual processes as generative AI, with junior developers writing responses behind the scenes. It was a textbook case of vaporware wrapped in buzzwords.

Read the White Paper:
The companion white paper explores:

• Why Informatica fills a critical data hygiene gap in Salesforce’s Data Cloud
• How to spot poser AI companies (regardless of whether they’re vendors or services firms)
• The regulatory drag on agentic deployment in clinical vs. administrative workflows
• Who’s actually building credible healthcare AI—and how to tell

Conclusion:
AI won’t save healthcare overnight. But real, responsible agentic AI—built on clean data, governed properly, and validated openly—can still move the needle. We just have to know where to look.

Read more: 
Get the Full White Paper - Agentic AI in Healthcare: Sorting Real Innovation from Vaporware