Family Medicine Artificial Intelligence Centers of Excellence

The first phase of STFM's Artificial Intelligence (AI) Centers of Excellence (CoE) initiative focused on defining what excellence in AI looks like within family medicine. The STFM AI Task Force developed the draft CoE framework grounded in the following foundations:

1. The 5 C’s of primary care: First contact, comprehensiveness, continuity, coordination, and community
2. The Quintuple Aim: Patient experience, population health, cost of care, care team well-being, and health equity
3. The 3 pillars of academic family medicine: Clinical care, education, and research
4. Leading models from existing health care and industry CoEs
5. Insights from family medicine leaders working at the intersection of AI, innovation, and care delivery

The development process was iterative and collaborative, shaped by landscape scans, feedback cycles, and structured working sessions. Every element was included based on its relevance, feasibility, and alignment with family medicine's mission. The resulting draft framework is organized into four concentric domains (See figure, below):

1. Purpose: A unifying mission to advance the Quintuple Aim through responsible use of AI
2. Core Functions: Clinical transformation, education and workforce development, research and evaluation
3. Enabling Conditions: Infrastructure, process, people, and culture
4. Illustrative Activities: Governance, funding, talent development, IT optimization, data access, community and provider engagement, and partnerships

The framework is not intended to be prescriptive. It is the starting point for a practical and adaptable guide, built by and for the family medicine community, to help institutions assess their current capacity, identify gaps, and chart a path toward AI excellence that fits their mission.

By design, it emphasizes integration. AI in clinical practice must be connected to research and scholarship. Educational efforts must prepare learners to not just use AI, but to question and lead it. Infrastructure must support thoughtful implementation, ensuring tools reflect family medicine’s core values of equity and relationship-centered care. By anchoring the work in shared values and clear functions, we can support innovation while maintaining a consistent bar for quality and responsibility.

To ensure broad impact, the framework is being designed with all of family medicine in mind, especially those in rural communities and in safety net organizations. These settings are central to primary care and often face distinct barriers to AI adoption. The CoE initiative aims to bridge these gaps by fostering mentorship and innovation, sharing resources, and ensuring community-rooted care remains at the heart of AI advancement in family medicine.