Patient barriers to AI adoption
Patients have a variety of concerns when it comes to AI risks in the healthcare setting, and the gravity varies based on age, gender, and geography.
Health AI regulation and accountability
While the regulation of AI has been widely discussed, the majority of patients are looking for some level of governance and standardization when it comes to AI in healthcare. 75% note their biggest risk concern is around liability and “who is responsible if an AI-generated recommendation is wrong or results in harm.” This was the highest rated concern for women (79%) and rural patients across the board (83%). When asked how AI should be governed in healthcare, 47% of patients believe that AI tools being used for health advice should undergo the same FDA-level testing and approval as new drugs, followed by 19% who say AI tools should be governed by health systems’ own policies and oversight only— without government regulation.
Patient concerns around AI regulations (% very / somewhat concerning)
Health data privacy, PHI, and patient trust
Overall, 74% of patients say they worry about data privacy and the security of their personal health information. This was followed by 71% who said they are concerned about the potential sale or leak of their protected health information, a number that was considerably higher for women (78%) than men (65%). Rural patients also rated these as high areas of concern – 77% and 83%, respectively – indicating a trust gap around data and privacy handling.Patient concerns around AI and privacy (% very / somewhat concerning)
Health AI safety and human judgment
When it comes to safety, the survey found that 73% of patients worry about the erosion of their clinicians’ clinical decision-making skills due to overreliance on AI, with women and rural patients ranking this as their highest concern around safety. This was followed by the risk of bias introduced through the training of AI, with 72% of patients identifying this as a safety concern. Among younger patients, 92% (ages 25-29) identified this as their biggest watch area.
Patient concerns around safety and AI (% very / somewhat concerning)
Can healthcare AI scale if it doesn’t first earn (and maintain) patient trust?
The 2026 Future Ready Healthcare survey results for patients show a clear demand for AI that makes healthcare easier to understand, especially for tools that explain medical records, lab results, diagnoses, treatment options, insurance benefits, and online misinformation in plain language. However, patients have strong concerns around AI that requires personal data, is heavily influencing clinical decision-making, or lacks clear accountability.
Health organizations across the care ecosystem need to focus on engineering trust into the care experience, including: