How are US hospitals adopting artificial intelligence? Early evidence from 2022.

Abstract

US hospitals are rapidly adopting artificial intelligence (AI), but there is a lack of knowledge about AI-adopting hospitals' characteristics, trends, and spread. This study aims to fill this gap by analyzing the 2022 American Hospital Association (AHA) data. The novel Hospital AI Adoption Model (HAIAM) is developed to categorize hospitals based on their AI adoption characteristics in the fields of (1) predicting patient demand, (2) optimizing workflow, (3) automating routine tasks, (4) staff scheduling, and (5) predicting staffing needs. Nearly one-fifth of US hospitals (1107 or 18.70%) have adopted some form of AI by 2022. The HAIAM shows that only 3.82% of hospitals are high adopters, followed by 6.22% moderate and 8.67% low adopters. Artificial intelligence adoption rates are highest in optimizing workflow (12.91%), while staff scheduling (9.53%) has the lowest growth rate. Hospitals with large bed sizes and outpatient surgical departments, private not-for-profit ownership, teaching status, and part of health systems are more likely to adopt different forms of AI. New Jersey (48.94%) is the leading hospital AI-adopting state, whereas New Mexico (0%) is the most lagging. These data can help policymakers better understand variations in AI adoption by hospitals and inform potential policy responses.