AI use in healthcare sees rapid uptake in 2025

Editor's Note

While the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) represents important implications for health care delivery and patient care, AI application in healthcare care has lagged behind other industries such as information services. However, this changed significantly in 2025, according to findings from a new study published November 21 in JAMA Health Forum.

The investigators noted that limited data on real-time trends of AI adoption in the health care sector led them to compare AI use in health care verses other sectors from 2023 to 2025. Using data from the US Census Bureau’s Business Trends and Outlook Survey, they examined changes in AI use in health care and other sectors, such as finance and insurance, education, professional/scientific/technical services, and information services.
Up until the end of 2024, AI adoption was comparatively flat in healthcare and then went up rapidly through steady increases in 2025 at a 481.5% rate of change.

Looking more closely at AI uptake within health care, the investigators noted the largest gains were within outpatient and ambulatory care where the percentage of firms using AI increased from 4.6% in 2023 to 8.7% in 2025, per the study findings. They concluded that future research is needed to understand the reasons and consequences of lower rate of AI adoption in other health care sub-sectors such as nursing.

The investigators also noted that the rapid uptake of AI in healthcare through 2025 signals the urgent need for active monitoring and effective regulations to ensure safe and efficient deployment of AI in patient care.