Consumers and clinicians rapidly increase use of AI, despite concerns
More patients are using the technology to prepare for encounters, but questions remain about how organizations are ensuring its appropriate use.
Like the proverbial runaway freight train, artificial intelligence now is rapidly gaining momentum in use among patients and clinicians alike.
While still surrounded by doubts and concerns, the unique capabilities of AI to distill information and ferret out knowledge offers a panacea for people dealing with information overload.
Two surveys released this week show the widespread use of the technology, while also underscoring the need of the healthcare industry to take it into account and change so that it can better interact with people who are increasingly living in an AI world.
More power to the patients
The increased access to information, and the ability to make more sense of it, is leading to a new definition of what it means to be an empowered patient, according to research found in the Wolters Kluwer 2026 Future Ready Healthcare Report.
“AI is not just something that healthcare organizations are implementing within the walls of the health system,” says Peter Bonis, MD, chief medical officer at Wolters Kluwer Health. “It’s something that’s shaping the patient journey well before they enter the doctor’s office. That influences the dynamics of clinical decision-making in important ways.”
The report says 42 percent of consumers are bringing AI-generated content with them into medical appointments. On the other side of the stethoscope, 59 percent of clinicians are reported to engage with the AI-based data that patients are bringing, and clinicians generally are “fairly aligned with their patients on how that information gets used during the encounter.”
Increasingly tech-savvy and tech-dependent consumers are looking to AI to help them prepare for appointments and take an active role in their care and the care of dependents, the study found. Caregivers navigating both children’s and elder parents' care appear to be leaning on AI, as 54 percent of consumers report using AI to research side effects, and 52 percent indicate they depend on AI to better understand diagnoses.
But both clinicians and patients are worried that AI use in healthcare needs more oversight than it’s getting. A common concern is that AI may wittingly or unwittingly be manipulated, particularly if AI-generated information is based on data culled from advertisements, risking the injection of bias into healthcare decision making. Three out of five patients (61 percent) and 72 percent of clinicians are concerned that AI-generated information could introduce bias and influence answers provided about care decisions.
The need for organizational evolution
Clinicians still worry that AI governance policies aren’t getting into place fast enough. Only 27 percent of respondents this year say their healthcare organizations have AI governance policies with sufficient guardrails in place, up only slightly from 21 percent last year. Others reported concerns about how governance policies are being communicated throughout the organization.
Clinicians also worry about instances in which AI invents incorrect or fabricated information, such as falsified medical studies. Some 74 percent cite worries about how such hallucinations could affect their ability to practice medicine. Others are worried about “de-skilling” that could result from their increased reliance on AI tools – this, they fear, might impede their ability to identify inaccurate information and substandard recommendations.
Given the recent emergence of AI, human input is essential, both patients and clinicians say. More than 90 percent of clinicians and 89 percent of patients say they believe human experts should be validating the sources behind AI-generated healthcare content used for patient care.
"All care providers, from bedside nurses to retail pharmacists and physicians, must recognize that AI is becoming part of the patient journey well before a clinical encounter takes place,” Bonis says. ”These platforms provide a level of access and convenience that healthcare organizations simply can't match today, and we need to adapt to ensure patients are connecting AI-generated information back to their broader healthcare journey.
“The goal shouldn't be to discourage that engagement, but to help patients and clinicians make sense of the information together,” he adds. “Healthcare organizations can support this by providing trusted resources, establishing clear governance around AI use, and reinforcing the clinician's role in validating information and translating it into evidence-based care decisions."
Clinicians still have AI worries
The prevalence of AI use by clinicians belies their concerns about the trustworthiness of the technology and the lack of safeguards surrounding its use.
A new report from Healio details those worries, drawing on the company’s survey of more than 600 healthcare professionals.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, 70 percent of those surveyed say they use AI, even though more than four out of five (81 percent) say they only have moderate to very low trust in using AI professionally. In fact, nearly half (44 percent) of those with low or very low trust still use AI in their clinical practice. Some 48 percent of those who use AI tools regularly are applying it to clinical decision support – even as 16 percent reporting low to no trust in AI tools.
In gauging whether organizations are exercising sufficient oversight of AI, a dichotomy exists. Nearly 70 percent of respondents say their hospital, practice or health system support the use of AI, but of those, only 15 percent report having clear and comprehensive policies concerning its use.
Chief among the worries reported by respondents are AI accuracy (noted by 70 percent), legal liability (59 percent) and overreliance on technology (59 percent).
Even so, most healthcare professionals are optimistic about the value of AI for clinical care. More than two-thirds said AI has the potential to improve healthcare quality, and 47 percent believe AI will improve access to care.
“The fact that so many healthcare professionals are turning to AI, even in the absence of trust in the products they’re using, shows how pervasive it is,” says Joan-Marie Stiglich, chief AI officer for Healio. “As leaders in medical news and information, we feel a great deal of responsibility to help HCPs choose reliable tools and feel confident they are getting accurate and actionable results, especially when it influences clinical decisions.”
Fred Bazzoli is the Editor in Chief of Health Data Management.