Report: AI is Changing How Patients Pick Providers

September 26, 2025

Trust in artificial intelligence (AI) is growing, and a new study finds more patients are using it to select doctors.

Researchers from rater8 said that AI, voice assistants, and social media are becoming crucial to provider selection.

“This signals a clear shift: the patient journey is no longer linear. It’s expanding into an AI-powered ecosystem where multiple touchpoints shape decisions,” the report notes.

Here’s what you need to know:

• By the numbers:  About 31 percent of patients report using generative AI tools like ChatGPT or Google AI Overviews to research providers
  • This shows the influence of these tools. About 26 percent reported they used generative AI tools to influence their provider choices, falling just behind primary care referrals (28%) and health care review sites (29%).
• The new search engine:  About a third of patients said they trusted AI-generated search results as much as traditional search engines.
  • Only 11 percent reported they didn’t trust AI-generated results.
• The power of reviews:  A significant majority of patients (84%) look for reviews before selecting a provider.
  • These reviews play an expanding role as they also are among the top AI-valued search results.
  • More than half of patients (57%) rarely or never leave reviews themselves.
• Provider strategies:  Social media is a resource for patients when picking providers, with 35 precent reporting they had chosen a provider based on social media presence.
• Quotable:  “Providers who build and maintain a professional social media presence and optimize for voice search will be better positioned to meet patients earlier in their decision-making process,” the report notes.

 Additional insights from the report are available online.