Salesforce releases agentic AI tool for healthcare’s most tedious tasks

Healthcare workers might reclaim an entire workday weekly through AI agent technology handling their routine tasks, new Salesforce research suggests. The study explored the benefits of the company’s newly announced Agentforce for Health, an agentic AI tool designed to address the documentation and administrative challenges facing medical professionals.

Salesforce’s study of 500 American healthcare professionals found that nearly 9 in 10 work beyond regular hours each week to finish administrative responsibilities, with almost 60% reporting these duties negatively impact their professional satisfaction.

“AI agents are poised to revolutionize the healthcare industry, which has long struggled with labor shortages and administrative overload,” said Amit Khanna, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Salesforce Health in the research announcement. “This new digital labor force can augment healthcare workers’ efforts by working alongside doctors, nurses, and administrators to increase efficiencies and improve outcomes.”

The timing appears critical, as the healthcare industry faces projected shortages of 100,000 workers by 2028. Administrative overload compounds this problem by reducing patient interaction time and contributing to staff burnout.

When asked how AI assistants could help, healthcare professionals identified several key areas: coordinating care between providers, taking and summarizing meeting notes, analyzing policies for coverage determinations, communicating with patients, and personalizing treatment planning.

“With Agentforce, we can support patients 24/7 with tasks like navigating facilities and finding healthcare providers based on their preferences,” explained Jeff Gautney from Rush University System for Health. “This lets our human staff concentrate on handling the complex situations that require real expertise.”

The technology addresses different healthcare sectors with specialized capabilities:

For providers and clinics, the AI can match patients with in-network doctors, verify insurance coverage, and manage routine appointment scheduling. It can also compile patient information from various sources to give care teams a complete picture before visits.

Public health departments can use the tools to monitor disease outbreaks by analyzing data from multiple sources, automatically processing lab reports into case data, and creating public health awareness campaigns.

Research organizations gain assistance with patient recruitment for clinical trials, site selection analysis, and quality monitoring across study locations.

Surprisingly, many healthcare workers weren’t initially familiar with this technology—only about four in ten recognized the term “AI agents.” However, after learning more, seven in ten predicted such tools would become essential to healthcare operations within five years.

The potential time savings appear substantial. Medical professionals estimated these tools could reduce administrative work by roughly a third for doctors and nearly 40 percent for nurses. Administrative staff predicted saving ten hours weekly.

While enthusiasm runs high, adoption challenges remain. Most healthcare professionals expect to learn these tools on the job, but fewer than half currently feel ready to do so. Healthcare organizations will need to select platforms that produce reliable results and provide sufficient training.

For an industry where time directly impacts care quality, these AI assistants could fundamentally change healthcare delivery. By handling routine documentation and administrative processes, they might give medical professionals what surveys show they desperately want: more meaningful interaction with patients.

The technology won’t resolve all healthcare staffing challenges, but by reducing administrative burdens, it could significantly improve both patient experiences and professional satisfaction—a prescription that addresses multiple symptoms of an overburdened system.