Opinion: 46% of U.S. counties don\u2019t have a cardiologist. ARPA-H\u2019s new agentic AI program could bring them specialized care
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When my 14-year journey to train as a heart failure cardiologist finally concluded, I naturally assumed the hardest time was behind me. But in my first job I found myself working as the only cardiologist in a county of more than 150,000 people in rural North Carolina at a hospital actively undergoing bankruptcy<\/a>.<\/p>\n This experience opened my eyes to the increasing gap in mortality between urban and rural areas<\/a> in the United States, driven by chronic heart disease<\/a>. Yet poor care is not just restricted to health care deserts: An upcoming national analysis from my team revealed that only 2.5% of American patients are on lifesaving recommended medications. Any solution that relies on clinicians is bound to fail, however, given that 46% of counties in the United States don\u2019t have a single cardiologist<\/a>.<\/p>\n