ADVOCATE
Agentic AI-Enabled Cardiovascular Care Transformation
What if an FDA-authorized clinical agentic AI could provide safe and effective cardiovascular care to every American?
The Problem
- Over 200,000 Americans die each year from preventable impacts of cardiovascular disease (CVD), the leading cause of death in the U.S. Despite spending almost half a trillion dollars on heart disease alone, the US experiences much worse outcomes than many other similar nations.
- Treatments for managing heart health with diet, exercise, and affordable medications are simple, inexpensive, and effective. Yet nearly half of American counties lack a cardiologist, meaning that many patients across the country are missing out on life-saving care and interventions.
- Clinical artificial intelligence (AI) agents could help fill this gap, but we don’t currently have a clear way to ensure they consistently operate safely and effectively at scale in real-world settings.
The Solution
- The Agentic AI-EnableD CardioVascular CAre TransfOrmation (ADVOCATE) program aims to transform advanced cardiovascular disease management with an agentic AI system that can provide 24/7 holistic clinical care.
- ADVOCATE will support the development of clinical AI agents that can be trusted to autonomously adjust changes in appointments, medications, diet, and exercise. In parallel, ADVOCATE will support the development of a supervisory AI "overseer” to monitor clinical AI agents after they have been deployed in clinical practice to ensure their continued safety and efficacy.
- ADVOCATE's transformative goal is to create a first-of-its-kind, reliable, FDA-authorized clinical agentic AI system that serves around the clock as a new, digital member of the clinical care team.
- Together, these efforts will enable an integrated, holistic cardiovascular care platform to provide real-time guidance that patients and care teams can act on. The program will partner with health systems to successfully deploy the technology across diverse care environments—from major health systems to rural clinics and community settings.
Only ARPA-H can...
- Harness the power of American innovation to quickly develop agentic AI that is safe, transparent, and effective in healthcare settings.
- Unleash the best technical experts across sectors to tackle a leading cause of death in the U.S. and accelerate pathways for regulatory and reimbursement approvals.
- Build trust with patients, doctors, and other stakeholders around patient-facing AI agents through rigorous testing and demonstrating measurable improvements in safety, outcomes, and equity.
- Pave the way for AI technology to serve as a clinician-extender, first for advanced CVD and eventually for all chronic conditions.
Solicitation
What ARPA-H needs to solve this problem
ADVOCATE seeks leaders in the tech sector, academia, non-profit organizations, and small businesses to overcome the technical, regulatory, and market barriers holding back innovation in clinical agentic AI. The program has three technical areas: development of a patient-facing clinical AI agent, a supervisory agent that ensures clinical AI agents’ consistent safety and effectiveness, and a scalable plan for integration into clinical workflows in healthcare organizations.
Notice ID: ARPA-H-SOL-26-142
ARPA-H invites interested parties to review the solicitation, which is posted and maintained on SAM.gov. The solicitation outlines the opportunity and its requirements, key dates and deadlines, submission documents and templates, evaluation criteria for submissions, and information on how to apply.
Key Dates:
- Solution Summary Due: February 27, 2026
A summary is required to submit a full proposal. - Full Proposal Due: April 1, 2026
After submission of a solution summary, proposers will either be encouraged or discouraged from submission of a full proposal. It is strongly recommended that only proposers who are encouraged to submit a full proposal do so.
Reminder: Dates are estimates and subject to change. Please reference the solicitation for the most up-to-date information.
Ready to apply? To submit a Solution Summary, sign-in to the ARPA-H Solutions Portal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Review responses to common questions about this funding opportunity asked by others in the proposer community.
You can also ask a question.
Proposers' Day
This is an optional event for the proposer community to learn more about this opportunity, ask questions, and make connections. This event is not intended for patients, patient advocates, the media, or general interest audiences.
Event date: January 23, 2026
Registration closes on January 21, 2026 at 5:00 PM ET (or when capacity is reached)
Event location: Arlington, VA (hybrid)
Dates subject to change. For the most up-to-date information, reference the Special Notice (ARPA-H-SN-26-139) on SAM.gov.
Teaming Page
ARPA-H anticipates that teaming will be necessary to achieve the goals of ADVOCATE. Prospective proposers are encouraged to form teams with varied technical expertise to submit a research proposal.
To facilitate this process, we have created a teaming page where prospective proposers can share their profiles and learn more about other interested parties.
Program Manager
"What we are trying to achieve with ADVOCATE is a technology that can essentially serve as a clinician-extender: an autonomous agent smart enough to understand patients’ treatment needs, which can both provide certain care autonomously as well as engage the clinical team as needed."
