AI Tools Are Strengthening the Doctor-Patient Relationship, But Trust Remains an Issue

A new report from Wolters Kluwer suggests that artificial intelligence tools are increasingly serving as a “powerful compass” in healthcare settings, helping both clinicians and patients navigate complex queries and a cumbersome system—and inspiring greater collaboration between the two groups in the process. 

With AI empowering patients to take a more active role in their own care, that paradigm shift represents a major opportunity for pharma media to bolster direct engagement strategies, offering up highly targeted content that provides education and support at touchpoints throughout the entire patient journey. 

Based on surveys of around 350 healthcare professionals and 250 patients in the U.S., the 2026 Future Ready Healthcare report found that more than 70% of HCPs are using generative AI at least once a week at work, most commonly for time-consuming tasks like summarizing medical literature, analyzing data and generating patient education materials. More than 60% of the surveyed clinicians said adding AI into their workflows has enabled them to spend more time on patient care. 

Patients, meanwhile, are regularly turning to AI to research symptoms, diagnoses and side effects, and they’re bringing those findings with them to doctor’s appointments. More than 40% said they “frequently” or “very frequently” bring AI-generated information to appointments—including a whopping 81% of those aged 18-24—and nearly 60% reported that their doctors and nurses have welcomed the practice. 

Across the entire respondent group, 70% said they believe that AI has the potential to improve patients’ health literacy and engagement. 

Still, concerns remain about the trustworthiness of AI tools in healthcare settings. About 90% of HCPs and patients agree that AI-generated clinical content should be validated by a human expert; more than three-quarters of the clinicians surveyed said they make sure to independently verify information they receive from AI tools, and a similar number of patients said they expect their care teams to do so. 

And, especially notable for pharma media, about 70% of HCPs and 60% of patients said they’re at least “somewhat” concerned that sponsored advertising in AI tools may lead to biases in output, with that worry rising at the prospect of pharma sponsorships in particular.  

Overall, the AI tools most attractive to large swaths of the clinicians surveyed are those that have been built by trusted medical resources, earn FDA or other regulatory clearance and clearly cite the sources behind each output. 

solli’s Final Thoughts 

More engaged patients are more likely to pay close attention to their health, stick to treatment plans and, in general, make healthier choices across the board. With that in mind, for pharma media and marketing, greater engagement translates to more opportunities to reach patients throughout the healthcare ecosystem. 

When it comes to the AI tools powering this engagement boost, pharma marketers will continue to shift toward producing content that’s easily surfaced in AI searches—potentially allaying some of the trust issues still swirling around the automated tools by ensuring they’re drawing on accurate, expert-validated information. 

But the opportunity spans far beyond AI platforms: Though chatbots and generative search tools may serve as a jumping-off point for patients interested in taking on a more authoritative role in their own health, that new positioning will make them more receptive to health content across channels. 

Crucial, then, will be the implementation of truly connected, individually tailored omnichannel strategies that offer consistent, helpful messaging at every step of a healthcare journey.