While the headlines at TCT and ACC focus on AI that can read angiograms or predict arrhythmias, a quieter, unsexy revolution is happening in the back office, and it might be the key to actually using those advanced clinical tools.

The biggest bottleneck in modern cardiology is administrative friction. It’s the death by 1,000 faxes that occurs when a patient is referred for a TAVR, but the pre-op workup is trapped in a PDF from an external hospital. It’s the prior authorization that sits in a queue for weeks because a specific keyword was missing from the submission. According to the AMA, 94% of physicians report that these administrative hurdles lead to delays in accessing necessary care. [1]

The Messy Data Problem

Healthcare runs on unstructured data. Referral letters, handwritten call notes, faxed labs, and denial letters make up the bulk of cardiac operations. In fact, nearly 80% of all healthcare data is unstructured and inaccessible to traditional automation. [2] This forces highly trained clinical staff to spend hours acting as data entry clerks rather than treating patients.

The Agentic AI Solution 

Agentic AI isn’t a chatbot or a diagnostic model, it’s a digital worker. Unlike traditional software that waits for a human to input data, Agentic AI can autonomously perform tasks across different systems. Human-in-the-loop approval steps can be added to ensure clinical oversight. 

Read a full breakdown of AI transformation for healthcare here.

How Agentic Workflows Change the Cath Lab

Patient Scheduling & Follow-Up: Agents autonomously handle the last mile of care coordination, reaching out to patients to schedule diagnostic testing, confirming procedure dates, and answering routine logistical questions without burdening clinical staff. This directly combats referral leakage, which costs health systems an estimated $971,000 per physician annually. [4]

See even more use cases of AI agents for healthcare here. 

Referral Velocity: AI Agents ingest incoming faxes and emails, extract clinical criteria, and draft the patient chart for review: reducing time-to-appointment from weeks to days. [3]

Automated Prior Auth: Agents cross-reference patient charts against payer-specific guidelines to draft authorization requests that minimize technical denials. Download the free whitepaper of use cases for healthcare here.

The Takeaway

The future of cardiology starts with better flows. By automating the administrative burden, we allow interventionalists to focus on what they do best: treating patients. Request a demo to see customized use cases for your lab or organization here. 

References:

1. American Medical Association. 2024 AMA Prior Authorization Physician Survey. (2025).

2. McKinsey & Company. The unstructured data challenge in healthcare. (2024).

3. Albabtain, M., et al. Reducing Delays in Aortic Stenosis Treatment: A Clinical Audit of the Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) Pathway. PMC. (2025).

4. Proficient Health. How Progressive Hospitals Are Addressing the Patient Referral Leakage Challenge. (2025).