Why HCP AI use is now a brand strategy opportunity for pharma

Generative AI has moved quickly from curiosity to utility in healthcare. For many healthcare professionals (HCPs), what once required searching guidelines, reading journals or navigating multiple websites can now begin with a single prompt on ChatGPT, Claude or the likes of it.

New evidence from Remedy Edge’s global study, AI Usage in Clinical Decisions, shows just how far this shift has already gone. Across 15 specialties and 1,165 respondents in North America, Europe and China, 92% of HCPs say they use generative AI in clinical practice, 73% say it influences their treatment decisions and 85% expect usage to increase over the next 12 months.1 This is no longer a fringe behaviour. It is already widespread, frequent and influential.

That matters because AI is becoming a new front door to treatment information. Our study found adoption was high across all specialties surveyed, ranging from 85-98%, with particularly strong uptake among dermatologists, GP/PCPs, cardiologists and gastroenterologists.2 In other words, this is not a story about a few digitally adventurous clinicians. AI has crossed a more important threshold: from niche to normal.

Frequency makes this even more commercially significant. Nearly four in five HCPs use AI weekly or more, and the use cases are not limited to administrative tasks.3 Clinicians report using AI to review guidelines, summarise research and trial data, understand treatment options, compare therapies and think through specific patient cases. That pattern is decisional, not merely administrative.

The most commercially important finding may be this: the majority of HCPs say AI already influences their treatment decisions.4 Once AI begins shaping treatment consideration, brand presence in AI answers can no longer be treated as a passive by-product of digital content. It becomes something that must be understood, managed and improved with intent.

Importantly, HCPs are not using AI blindly. Concerns around accuracy, bias, references and outdated content remain prominent. Yet those concerns coexist with high satisfaction: more than 80% are satisfied or very satisfied with the quality of AI answers they receive.5 The implication is clear. Clinicians recognise the limitations, but they keep coming back because the value is already compelling.

AI is also beginning to compete directly with traditional information sources. When HCPs were asked where they turn first for quick information about a therapy, clinical guidelines still led at 48%. But generative AI already matched PubMed and journals at 19% and ranked ahead of colleagues, pharma websites and reps.6 The question for marketers is no longer whether AI will become a meaningful touchpoint. It already is one. The more urgent question is: how do we influence it?

This is where generative engine optimisation (GEO) comes in. GEO is the discipline of understanding and improving how AI represents a brand when customers ask relevant questions. In practice, that means measuring whether a brand appears when it should, whether the answer is accurate, whether the framing supports appropriate consideration and whether the source ecosystem behind that answer is authoritative. In our framework, the key metrics are visibility, accuracy, favourability and source ecosystem strength. Together, they help turn an invisible risk into something brands can diagnose and improve.

GEO is not just a digital marketing exercise. From commercial and medical to peer-to-peer and patient engagement; GEO is an extension of cross-functional brand strategy. Strong brands have always needed to win the battle for meaning in the minds of customers. AI simply changes one of the environments in which that battle now takes place.

For pharma, the implication is straightforward: brands need to understand how AI is portraying them today, where that portrayal is strong or weak and what can be done to improve it. This is where Radar, Remedy Edge’s GEO solution, comes in. It turns an invisible risk into a visible, manageable and ultimately optimisable part of modern brand activation.

Find out how and why HCPs use AI in the full report here.

References
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 AI Usage in Clinical Decisions, based on Remedy Edge Sermo RealTime Survey, n=1,165, Europe, North America and China, March 2026.