Nearly two-thirds of U.S. hospitals using Epic’s EHR had adopted ambient artificial intelligence tools for clinical documentation as of June 2025, according to a Jan. 27 study published in The American Journal of Managed Care.
Researchers analyzed a national sample of 6,561 U.S. hospitals and identified 2,784 (42.4%) that used Epic as their primary inpatient EHR system. Of those, 1,744 (62.6%) had implemented ambient AI tools that capture patient-clinician conversations and generate draft clinical notes for clinician review.
Here are four key findings from the study:
- Sixty-two percent of hospitals using Epic had adopted at least one ambient AI tool. Adoption was more common among large hospitals, nonprofit facilities, metropolitan hospitals, and those with higher staffing-adjusted workloads and stronger financial performance.
- Nonprofit hospitals had significantly higher adoption rates than for-profit hospitals, with adjusted probabilities of 70.2% and 28.8%, respectively.
- Metropolitan hospitals were more likely to adopt the tools than nonmetropolitan hospitals (64.7% vs. 54.3%). Adoption rates were lowest in the Midwest (54.9%) and highest in the South (69.5%).
- DAX Copilot, Abridge and ThinkAndor were the most commonly adopted ambient AI tools, accounting for more than 80% of implementations among Epic hospitals.
The study relied on observational data, so findings reflect associations rather than causal relationships. Still, the authors concluded that ambient AI tools are spreading rapidly and may play an increasing role in clinical workflows.
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