Survey: Despite being ‘scary,’ 70% of US patients comfortable with AI use in health care

Key takeaways:

• Most respondents said they are comfortable with AI reducing diagnosis and wait times.
• More than half of respondents said AI usage in health care is “scary,” and worry about data privacy.

Most people are comfortable with the use of AI-based applications during visits to drive improvements in health care delivery, but many are also concerned about data privacy, according to the findings of a recent survey.

Healio previously reported that one-third of adults said they would be comfortable with AI-led primary care visits, although barriers to its implementation still remain.

“Primary care physicians should use this research as a guideline for how to introduce this technology to patients,” Harrison Jackson, MD, FACP, an internist at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, told Healio. “For example, we will want to explicitly say that one of the reasons we are using this technology is so that we can shift our focus from documentation to increasing personal interaction.”

He added that the data “provides the areas that patients may be concerned about, but may not explicitly mention to us, so when we are addressing using this technology, we can speak to these concerns.”

Commissioned by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, the national survey recorded responses from 1,006 individuals and polled participants on their comfortability with AI being used for several different purposes during visits with their health care provider.

Overall, 52% said they would be open to AI as part of their care and 66% reported that AI should improve the work-life balance of health care providers.

Most respondents said they saw the potential value that AI could bring to practice management, as:

• 75% said using AI to minimize human errors is important;
• 64% reported that AI could make health care more efficient; and
• 71% are comfortable with AI improving the speed and accuracy of a diagnosis.

Additionally, 71% of respondents said they would like AI to reduce wait times to see a health care provider and 50% said AI being used to increase personal interaction with their health care provider during a visit rated as somewhat or very important.

Regarding specific uses of AI during the visit, the researchers found that 54% and 65% of respondents said they would be comfortable with AI developing a treatment plan and assisting with communication with their health care provider, respectively.

Meanwhile, 70% of respondents approved of AI taking notes during an appointment.

However, the survey showed some concerns from respondents. More than half (56%) said the use of AI in health care is “scary,” whereas 71% expressed worry about data privacy related to AI utilization.

“I was surprised that there was a gender difference in the comfort with this technology, as all but one of my patients over the past seven months have felt comfortable with me using this technology,” Jackson told Healio. “I was a little surprised that only 50% felt that this technology increased personal interaction with doctors during appointments, as I have seen this as the primary benefit.”