Here’s the thing that makes me want to throw my laptop out the window.
Every few years, corporate tech decides to rebrand the same old workflow automation and call it revolutionary. Someone just sent me an article about “agentic AI” in healthcare, and honestly? I’m tired of watching smart people fall for the same repackaged solutions.
The Pattern That Never Changes
Let me paint you a picture that every corporate decision-maker should recognize:
Phase 1 (2005): Someone discovers Excel macros. “Look! I automated this repetitive task!” Suddenly everyone’s a “process optimization expert.”
Phase 2 (2015): RPA (Robotic Process Automation) becomes the hot new thing. Same automation, fancier name. Companies spend millions on “digital transformation” that’s basically just bots clicking buttons.
Phase 3 (2018): SharePoint and portal workflows promise to revolutionize how we work. Spoiler alert: they mostly just moved paper forms online and added more approval steps.
Phase 4 (2025): Now it’s “Agentic AI” and “digital workers.” Same automation, shinier buzzwords.
The technology improves, sure. But the fundamental promise? Identical every single time.
The Healthcare Reality Check
Here’s what really gets me about these “revolutionary” healthcare AI pitches: they promise to solve problems doctors have been complaining about for decades.
“Our AI agents will streamline prior authorizations!”
Translation: We’ll automate the same bureaucratic process that shouldn’t exist in the first place. The real innovation would be eliminating prior auth altogether, not making it slightly faster.
“Digital workers will handle claims processing!”
Great. So instead of your staff spending hours on insurance paperwork, a bot will spend milliseconds. The patient still waits the same amount of time for approval, and you still need someone to review the bot’s work.
“AI will reduce documentation burden!”
Every EMR vendor has promised this since electronic health records were invented. Yet doctors still spend more time documenting than examining patients. The “AI scribe” just moves the problem from typing to reviewing AI-generated notes.
The pattern is always the same: take a fundamentally broken healthcare process, add automation, and call it innovation. But automation doesn’t fix bad processes – it just makes them faster.
The Corporate Philippines Experience
If you’re in a leadership position at a hospital or healthcare organization and this sounds familiar, there’s a reason:
- 2010: “We need better processes!” Implements SharePoint workflows
- 2015: “We need digital transformation!” Buys RPA tools
- 2020: “We need AI!” Adds chatbots to customer service
- 2025: “We need agentic AI!” Same processes, smarter automation
Each vendor promises to solve the same problems: reduce manual work, speed up approvals, connect disparate systems. The solutions get more sophisticated, but the pitch deck? Copy-paste from the previous decade.
What Decision-Makers Should Ask
Before you get excited about the next “revolutionary platform,” ask these questions:
“What exactly does this do that structured workflows couldn’t?”
Most “agentic AI” platforms are sophisticated automation tools. Which is fine! But don’t pay revolutionary prices for evolutionary improvements.
“Are we solving the same problem we tried to solve five years ago?”
If your answer is improving approvals, connecting systems, or reducing manual data entry – yes, you are.
“What happens when the next buzzword cycle arrives?”
Because it will. And suddenly your “cutting-edge agentic platform” will be “legacy automation” that needs replacing.
For Hospital Administrators and Doctors
Before you sign that contract for the next “game-changing” healthcare AI platform, ask yourself:
“Is this solving the actual problem, or just digitizing the bureaucracy?”
If your AI solution still requires the same approvals, reviews, and documentation – just faster – you’re not innovating. You’re optimizing dysfunction.
“Who does this really benefit?”
Usually it’s insurance companies and administrators, not patients or doctors. The “efficiency gains” often mean more throughput for the same broken system.
“What happens to the human expertise?”
When AI handles routine decisions, what happens when it encounters the 10% of cases that aren’t routine? Are your staff still capable of making those judgment calls?
The Real Innovation vs. The Marketing
Here’s what frustrates me: underneath all the hype, these solutions often work. Automation saves time. Smart workflows reduce errors. Better system integration helps decision-making.
But why do we need to pretend each iteration discovered workflow automation?
The truth is simpler: We’re always trying to make computers handle routine work so humans can focus on complex problems. Whether it’s Excel macros or “agentic AI platforms,” that core goal never changes.
My Prediction for 2028
Honestly? I think we’ll see healthcare AI mature beyond the buzzword phase. The current “agentic AI” wave will settle into practical tools that actually work – less revolutionary marketing, more incremental improvements.
But the buzzword cycle will definitely continue. My guess is “Embodied AI” or “Contextual Intelligence” – something that promises to understand the “full patient journey” in ways current AI cannot. Same fundamental automation, new angle on human-like understanding.
The real question is whether healthcare leaders will start recognizing these patterns and focus on solving actual problems rather than implementing the latest technology trend.
The Bottom Line for Leaders
Next time someone pitches you the “revolutionary” solution that will “transform your organization,” ask yourself:
- Is this solving a genuinely new problem?
- Or is this a better version of automation we’ve been buying for decades?
Both answers can lead to good purchasing decisions. But only one requires revolutionary budgets and expectations.
Your 2015 SharePoint workflow wasn’t that different from today’s “agentic AI platform.” Both connect systems, route data, and reduce manual work. One just has better natural language processing and a much bigger marketing budget.
Stop falling for the cycle. Buy tools that solve real problems, regardless of what buzzword is trending this quarter.
