It’s 10:30 on a Monday night. A patient with a nagging knee injury asks ChatGPT what might be wrong. Within seconds, they have a potential diagnosis, a treatment to ask about by name, and a short list of the top-ranked orthopedic groups nearby.
By the time the patient schedules a visit, they may already have an idea of what they want to ask and what their treatment plan could entail.
Patients May Arrive With a First Opinion
AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity are increasingly part of how patients research health information. The ZS Impact Institute’s 2026 Future of Health Report, recently covered by Medical Economics, found that 89% of U.S. respondents who use AI for health information said they found it helpful. By comparison, 96% said the same about information from their primary care physician.
In the same ZS report, 68% of physicians surveyed said they’d seen more patients request specific therapies by name.
One U.S. physician from the report noted, “Patients are coming in with a diagnosis already.”
AI tools are also playing a role in how patients are choosing a provider. In rater8’s 2026 Patient Choice Report, 47% of patients said they’ve used AI to research healthcare providers. Among patients who searched for a new doctor in the past year, 36% said AI tools influenced their decision.
A separate West Health-Gallup survey of more than 5,500 U.S. adults found that 1 in 4 had used AI for health information or advice. Among those who had used AI for health information in the past 30 days, 59% said they used it to research before seeing a doctor, and 56% said they used it afterward. And nearly half said AI made them more confident talking with or asking questions of a provider.
Health-specific AI features are extending that role. OpenAI says Health in ChatGPT can use health information that users choose to connect to help them understand results and prepare for appointments. Anthropic has also announced personal health-data integrations for Claude, which can help users summarize medical history, understand test results, and prepare questions for clinicians.
For patients, these AI tools and resources can be part of one continuous search: What might be wrong? Where should I go? What should I ask? And after the visit, what happens next?
Patients Still Rely on Their Physicians
These AI revelations don’t mean patients have stopped trusting their doctors. A separate Annenberg Public Policy Center survey found that 90% of respondents expressed confidence in their primary care physician. Nearly half said they weren’t comfortable with a doctor using AI in place of independent clinical judgment.
Yet patients don’t always discuss their online research during appointments. The same Annenberg survey found that only about one in eight people who search for health information regularly discuss it with their provider. About one-third said there usually isn’t enough time during appointments to talk about it.
That leaves providers with limited insight into what patients have read or what they still want to understand. A question about treatment, for example, may make more sense once a provider knows what information led to it.
How Healthcare Organizations Can Support Patients
AI is becoming part of how patients prepare for and follow up on care. Healthcare organizations can make their own information easier to verify, welcome questions during visits, invite feedback, and follow up when patients raise concerns.
Keep provider information accurate and useful
When patients research care before they make an appointment, accurate information is crucial. In rater8’s 2026 Patient Choice Report, 60% of patients who used AI to research providers said they trusted the information without verifying it. If a provider’s specialty, location, or insurance details are outdated, a confident wrong answer can end the patient journey before it starts.
Depending on the tool and the search, AI may pull information from provider websites, Google Business Profiles, directories, review sites, social profiles, and other third-party pages. The sources can vary, so keeping provider and location details accurate and consistent across the web gives AI tools a clearer basis for describing your organization.
An organization’s website can provide more detail through service pages that explain the care it offers, provider bios with specialties and credentials, and FAQs about appointments, insurance, and what to expect. Short videos can introduce providers or explain services. These resources give patients more context as they decide where to seek care.
Make room for patients’ questions
Use an intake form, pre-visit text, or check-in at the start of the appointment to ask what patients have read, what they’re still unsure about, and what they hope to discuss. A provider might start with, “What have you read so far, and what questions did it leave you with?”
That context helps providers understand what shaped a patient’s expectations and respond to the questions that matter to them.
Give every patient a voice
Recent, verified reviews help prospective patients hear from people who have received care. Invite every patient to share honest feedback so they can describe their experience in their own words. Those recent reviews also give AI tools more current patient experiences to draw from.
Follow up when patients raise concerns
Some patients may leave an appointment unsure about what happens next or reluctant to raise a concern in person. But providers can’t address what they never hear. Post-visit satisfaction surveys give patients an easy way to say, “I’m not sure what happens next,” while there’s still time to help.
Stay Present Throughout the Patient Journey
Patients aren’t replacing their doctors with AI tools. However, these tools are part of how many patients research symptoms, choose a provider, prepare for a visit, and look for answers afterward. Healthcare organizations can support them by keeping provider information current, welcoming questions during visits, inviting feedback after care, and responding when concerns arise.
Help patients find clear, consistent information
See how raVE, the rater8 Visibility Engine, helps healthcare organizations capture verified patient feedback, manage online reviews, and keep provider information accurate across local and AI-driven search.
