Latent, a San Francisco-based pharmacy intelligence platform, has announced its expansion to 60 U.S. health systems, serving approximately 70 million patients. The company has also introduced autonomous clinical agents to streamline access to complex specialty therapies, including GLP-1 medications and treatments in immunology, rheumatology, and cardiology.
These agents analyze patient data, claims, payer policies, and drug labels to automate administrative tasks like eligibility reviews and prior authorizations within health system workflows, overseen by clinical pharmacy teams. Latent expects to process over 5.8 million medication cases in the next year.
Autonomous Agents Tackle Administrative Burden
The agents are designed to sit within electronic medical records (EMR) systems, answering questions about patient data and helping determine authorization needs. This allows health systems to manage increased demand and serve more patients efficiently.
For example, during the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge program, Latent deployed agents to evaluate eligibility for millions of members within 7 to 10 days, enabling hospitals to meet a 20-30% increase in demand overnight.
Latent’s co-founder, Sri Somasundaram, emphasized the company’s mission to simplify the patient journey from sickness to health. He noted that the agents help identify the right therapies for disease management.
Partnerships Aim to Enhance Patient Care
New partnerships with health systems like Cleveland Clinic, AdventHealth, and WVU Medicine highlight Latent’s growing role in supporting patient medication journeys. Casey Yokum, director of Specialty Pharmacy & Home Infusion at WVU Medicine, explained that the partnership aims to support the health system’s growth and reduce the burden on frontline staff.
Yokum highlighted the challenge of keeping up with evolving payer policies and the shortage of pharmacy technicians. Latent’s ability to efficiently identify up-to-date information has significantly improved turnaround times and staff satisfaction at WVU Medicine.
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Within five months of implementation, WVU Medicine saw increased throughput, allowing them to assign additional work to staff. Yokum noted improvements in provider and patient satisfaction, as patients receive therapy faster and with less back-and-forth.
Looking ahead, WVU Medicine aims to enhance its use of Latent’s technology for both pharmacy and medical benefit prior authorizations, including in home infusion services, a growing area in healthcare.
Expansion to Additional Health Systems
Beyond the flagship partners, the platform now operates within institutions such as Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Keck Medicine of USC, UNC Health, and UnityPoint Health. These additions broaden the geographic footprint and bring the technology to pediatric, academic, and community settings alike.
Health system executives report that the platform’s ability to centralize payer policies and drug label information reduces the time clinicians spend searching for eligibility criteria. By presenting a single source of truth, the system helps align prescribing decisions with current coverage rules.
Future Directions and Platform Capabilities
In addition to eligibility and prior authorization automation, the solution now supports drug prioritization and appeals management. The agents can generate appeal letters based on predefined criteria, allowing pharmacy teams to focus on cases that truly require human intervention.
Implementation timelines have remained short, with most sites completing EMR integration within a few months. System administrators highlighted the ease of configuration, noting that the agents require minimal custom coding to align with local workflow rules.
