Key Survey Findings: AI in Healthcare Delivery

AI use is now a normal part of the daily experience for both clinicians and patients, creating the right conditions for AI to become truly embedded in every aspect of the care delivery process. With more than a third of clinicians and patients using AI at least daily at work and in their personal lives, widespread familiarity with AI tools is making it easier to bring AI-assisted processes into clinical processes and relationships.

While both clinicians and patients are embracing AI, they are using it to solve different – yet intertwined – problems within the healthcare ecosystem. Clinicians are focused on system-level challenges such as reducing administrative complexity and operational burdens, while patients are zeroed in on how AI can help address personal health concerns. Success in both areas will be necessary to truly enrich the healthcare experience.

AI is reshaping how information enters and influences care decisions, with AI-generated insights now flowing to patients from clinicians – and to clinicians from patients. With more patients bringing their own research into the clinical consult, clinicians are now taking on a larger role as interpreters and validators of new inputs, with varying degrees of acceptance and success.

Clinicians and patients both have reservations about the impact of AI on healthcare, but their caution is being shaped by different concerns. The majority of clinicians are concerned about issues including hallucinations and bias in AI products, as well as widespread clinical “deskilling” that could affect a clinicians’ critical thinking skills. Meanwhile, patients are focused on privacy, accountability, and transparency.

Both categories of respondents agree that AI can reduce friction and improve outcomes across the care delivery ecosystem, and they are aligned around the importance of achieving these goals. But neither want AI to replace human decision-making. They envision AI as an assistive tool for decision-making rather than something that will lead the care process.