The trend: Patients increasingly arrive at appointments with health information from genAI tools, according to a new Wolters Kluwer report that surveyed 355 doctors and nurses and 254 patients in March.

Digging into the data: Among patients who visited a doctor or nurse in the past year and use AI for healthcare purposes, 42% say they frequently (23%) or very frequently (19%) bring AI-generated information to appointments. Clinicians report this even more often, with 60% saying patients frequently (43%) or very frequently (17%) arrive having used AI tools to research their health.

Providers are adapting to this emerging patient behavior. Nearly 6 in 10 patients said doctors and nurses welcomed and engaged with AI-derived information. Clinician responses echoed that openness: 56% said they reviewed patient-provided AI information and explained how it did—or did not—align with the evidence-based resources guiding clinical decisions, while another 31% said they incorporated the AI information into patient discussions.

However, patients were more likely to say AI-generated health information was dismissed by doctors. Nearly 1 in 5 patients (19%) said their doctor or nurse acknowledged the information but declined to discuss it further—almost twice the share of clinicians (10%) who said they responded that way.

Why it matters: GenAI is quickly becoming a relied-upon health information source for many consumers, with health-related AI usage projected to grow 37% year over year to 46.1 million people in 2026, per our estimates.

While AI helps patients ask informed questions, providers must now validate and course-correct these digital insights in real time. Nearly 8 in 10 physicians think it’s moderately (33%) or very (45%) likely that patients receive some inaccurate medical information from AI tools, per a December 2025 Medscape report. Only 2% of doctors said it’s not at all likely.

Implications for healthcare providers and marketers: Most clinicians are not ignoring patients’ use of AI for medical information, and an increasing number are even openly discussing their own use of AI chatbots for health guidance. But trust in AI outputs remains a challenge, particularly among the general public, who may struggle to ask the right health-related questions and accurately interpret the medical information AI provides.

With most doctor-patient visits lasting only about 15 minutes, clinicians have limited time to correct misinformation or teach patients how to use AI responsibly. That creates an opportunity for healthcare marketers to partner with medical professionals and industry associations to develop patient resources on genAI use for health guidance—covering best practices, appropriate use cases outside the exam room, and situations that warrant involving a clinician.

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