Epic develops autonomous AI agents for routine medical visits

Epic is advancing plans to deploy autonomous artificial intelligence agents to manage specific routine patient encounters. These agents are designed to operate under physician oversight, absorbing clinical protocols and institutional guidelines to gather preliminary patient histories and order routine laboratory tests or diagnostic studies.

According to Garrett Adams, Epic’s senior vice president of research and development, the company is engineering a versatile engine intended for deployment across diverse care environments, including both inpatient and outpatient sectors. The initiative aims to address chronic appointment delays caused by healthcare workforce shortages and to improve access for vulnerable populations.

In the broader health IT sector, technology is evolving beyond simple AI scribes. Recent data indicates scribe adoption has reached 58%, prompting a shift toward full-clinic automation, including intelligent triage, inbox sorting, billing reconciliation, and clinical decision support.