Abstract / Summary
Artificial intelligence (AI) is dramatically changing the healthcare landscape by providing patients, clinicians, administrators, and public health professionals with tools to improve efficiency, outcomes, and the patient experience. High demand and significant investment by New York State (NYS) is transforming health care with AI tools, though little is known about clinicians’ use and interest in adopting them in their work. We undertook this analysis of NYS clinicians’ use of AI to better understand opportunities for its adoption and inclusion in continuing education, given that a large share of the nation’s future primary care clinicians train and work in NYS. We analyzed AI-related questions from the Annual Needs Assessment of clinical providers in NYS, conducted in 2024 and 2025 and administered via REDCap. We included healthcare providers who deliver ambulatory or specialty medical care within NYS. The primary outcome was use of AI tools at work (never vs. monthly or more). We used Pearson’s chi-square tests for bivariate analysis and backward elimination logistic regression for multivariate analysis to predict AI tool use. Of 305 NYS clinical providers responding, 24.3% indicated they use AI tools for work: 11.1% monthly, 8.5% weekly, and 4.6% daily. AI was primarily used to search guidelines and ask clinical questions, followed by identifying drug interactions, analyzing data, analyzing images or labs, and creating care plans and patient recommendations. AI use did not vary significantly across professional disciplines or practice types, though independent practitioners (MD/DO/DDS/PharmD) were significantly more likely than advanced practice providers (e.g., NP, CNM) to use AI (29.5% vs. 19.2%; P =.036). Providers using social media and digital methods to access continuing education content were more likely to use AI. AI use increased substantially from 2024 (18.3%) to 2025 (32.8%). AI use among NYS clinicians remains limited but is growing. Programs targeting clinicians could incorporate these findings into the design of accessible, acceptable AI-related continuing education opportunities to help familiarize clinicians with the opportunities and risks of using AI tools in their practices.