Health Systems Embrace AI Agents for Administrative Tasks

Clinical use of autonomous AI remains limited due to patient safety concerns

Published on Feb. 24, 2026

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Health systems are rapidly scaling the use of AI agents to automate a variety of administrative tasks, including IT incident triage, HR inquiries, recruitment optimization, and financial analysis. However, the adoption of autonomous AI agents for clinical workflows has been slower, as healthcare leaders prioritize patient safety and the need for rigorous validation before scaling these tools in high-stakes medical environments.

Why it matters

The increased use of AI agents in healthcare highlights the industry's ongoing digital transformation, as health systems seek to improve efficiency and the patient experience through automation. While administrative tasks have seen significant AI adoption, the cautious approach to clinical AI reflects the high stakes involved in medical decision-making and the need to ensure patient safety above all else.

The details

Health systems like Intermountain Health, Northwestern Medicine, and HonorHealth have deployed AI agents to handle a range of administrative duties, including IT incident triage, HR inquiries, recruitment optimization, and financial analysis. These AI-powered solutions have delivered significant efficiency gains, automating thousands of tasks and freeing up staff to focus on more complex, high-value work. However, the adoption of autonomous AI agents for clinical workflows has been slower, as healthcare leaders prioritize patient safety and the need for rigorous validation before scaling these tools in high-stakes medical environments.

  • In the past five months, Intermountain Health's enterprise AI agent has triaged over 150,000 IT incidents.
  • Intermountain's AI-enabled HR front door has resolved about 35,000 employee inquiries without the need to open a case, executing the work of about 40 full-time positions.
  • Intermountain's AI-powered job posting optimization has reduced recruitment marketing by over 25% while maintaining efficacy.

The players

Intermountain Health

A 33-hospital health system based in Salt Lake City that has been at the forefront of deploying AI agents for administrative tasks.

Northwestern Medicine

An 11-hospital academic health system in Chicago that has had early success with AI agents in areas such as administrative workflows, documentation support, and coding.

Mass General Brigham

A healthcare system based in Somerville, Massachusetts, that is taking a cautious, governance-focused approach to the adoption of autonomous clinical AI agents.

HonorHealth

A health system based in Scottsdale, Arizona, that has been using AI agents for post-discharge follow-up and pre-admission testing before surgeries.

Eric Shelley

The vice president of information services at Northwestern Medicine, who emphasizes the need for methodical validation and integration of AI agents in clinical workflows.

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What they’re saying

“Together, these solutions improve the patient experience while enabling staff to support more complex, higher‑value interactions.”

— Ryan Smith, Senior Vice President and Chief Information and Digital Officer, Intermountain Health (Becker's Hospital Review)

“When it comes to high-stakes clinical workflows where patient safety is paramount and error tolerance is essentially zero, we're still in the first inning. The technology shows tremendous potential, but we need to be methodical about validation, integration with clinical decision-making processes, and building the necessary guardrails before we can responsibly scale in those environments.”

— Eric Shelley, Vice President of Information Services, Northwestern Medicine (Becker's Hospital Review)

“Across healthcare, adoption of AI agents is advancing with intention rather than speed. Because these tools can influence patient care, strong governance, security and monitoring have to come first, so we haven't broadly deployed autonomous clinical agents yet.”

— Jane Moran, Chief Information and Digital Officer, Mass General Brigham (Becker's Hospital Review)

What’s next

As health systems continue to explore the use of AI agents, they will need to balance the efficiency gains in administrative tasks with the rigorous validation and governance required for clinical applications. Experts suggest that the adoption of autonomous AI in high-stakes medical environments will be a gradual process, with a focus on patient safety and the integration of these tools into existing clinical decision-making workflows.

The takeaway

The increased use of AI agents in healthcare highlights the industry's ongoing digital transformation, as health systems seek to improve efficiency and the patient experience through automation. While administrative tasks have seen significant AI adoption, the cautious approach to clinical AI reflects the high stakes involved in medical decision-making and the need to ensure patient safety above all else.