A June 2025 survey by U.S.-based Rater8 discovered that 26% of sufferers reported that AI instruments — together with AI-generated evaluation summaries and conversational assistants like ChatGPT — had immediately influenced their alternative of healthcare supplier.
This locations AI on par with major care referrals (28%) and healthcare evaluation websites (29%) when it comes to affect.
“The normal referral pipeline is weakening, and practices with poor AI visibility danger vital affected person leakage,” Rater8 mentioned.
The findings are primarily based on two affected person choice surveys carried out by way of SurveyMonkey: one in December 2024 with 1,008 U.S. adults aged 18 and older, and one other in June 2025 with 1,024 U.S. adults, each designed with comparable demographic balances to make sure comparability.
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Adopting new behaviours
On-line opinions stay the inspiration of supplier alternative. In December 2024, 84% of sufferers mentioned they checked on-line opinions earlier than reserving care. By June 2025, that determine remained unchanged, and greater than half (51%) reported studying not less than six opinions earlier than making a call.
On the identical time, 73% of sufferers reported adopting new behaviours or instruments to analysis suppliers — together with AI chatbots like ChatGPT, voice search assistants reminiscent of Siri and Alexa, and social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
“This indicators a transparent shift: the affected person journey is not linear. It’s increasing into an AI-powered ecosystem the place a number of touchpoints form selections,” Rater8 mentioned.
Moreover, 31% of sufferers mentioned they use generative AI — reminiscent of ChatGPT or Google AI Overviews — to analysis or examine suppliers.
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Shifting belief
Sufferers are additionally rethinking who they belief when making healthcare selections.
- 61% mentioned they belief on-line opinions greater than private suggestions from pals or household.
- About one-third belief AI-generated search outcomes as a lot as conventional serps like Google, whereas practically one in 5 belief AI much more.
- Solely 11% expressed outright skepticism towards AI-powered suggestions.
Rater8 famous that though AI might help information sufferers towards suppliers, “genuine affected person experiences in the end drive last selections.”
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