AI Is Changing How Patients Choose Healthcare Providers

This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.​Sumit Kumar is the Marketing Strategist and Co-Founder of Creative Ideaz UK Ltd.

gettyArtificial intelligence is changing the way people find and choose healthcare providers. Until recently, a patient looking for a dentist, surgeon or other medical professional might go to Google, search for a service and work through the results. They might see several paid listings and organic results, click on multiple websites and compare providers themselves.

With AI, that process is changing; they can frame the whole problem in one question. People do not need to click through 10 or 15 results looking for information. For example: “I’m looking for a dental practice near me that is open at 7 p.m. today for a dental implant. My budget is this. Who should I consider?” Instead of searching, patients are asking.

I think this is the bigger shift. Patients are no longer simply typing “dentist near me” or “medical professional near me.” They are asking a full question that includes what they actually want.

“Who is the best provider near me? What will it cost? What if I am nervous about treatment?”

AI can do much of that comparison and find somebody suitable while addressing those concerns. If a patient says they are nervous, for example, the tool can look for signals showing which healthcare professionals specialize in nervous or anxious patients. The patient does not have to do all that research themselves.

Healthcare research is not necessarily happening when clinics are open. People may be sitting at home in the evening asking questions about symptoms, treatments, costs and providers. They are getting information immediately rather than waiting until the next morning to call a clinic.

For healthcare organizations, that means the competition is no longer only about ranking highly in traditional search. Increasingly, the competition is whether an AI tool understands enough about you to include you in the answer.

When a patient asks AI to recommend a provider, the system needs information that helps it determine who is credible and relevant to that particular question. That may include the practice’s Google Business Profile, reviews, professional profiles, qualifications, regulatory information and other user-generated content.

If somebody asks for a dental implant specialist nearby, AI may look at which practices appear to specialize in implants, what patients have said about them and what other trusted sources say about the clinicians. That makes visibility much more specific.

As healthcare professionals, we need to ensure we continue to monitor the information that is available about our practice. Is my profile there? Are my qualifications there? Is my registration number there? Is there information showing my experience? Are patients talking about what I have delivered in the past? It becomes difficult to compete if AI cannot find those validation points.

The role of the healthcare website is changing as well. Previously, the website had to do much more of the selling and educating. Now, the patient may have already used AI for much of the research. I would describe the website’s role today as “trust but verify.”

An AI tool has told the patient something about you. Now the patient wants to see that the AI is actually right. They want to see your qualifications. They want to see how much experience you have. They may want a registration number, professional associations, testimonials, before-and-after examples or videos of you talking to patients.

If all those things are there, the patient may think, “Okay, this is a qualified doctor. This is what they look like. This is what other patients have experienced.” Job done.

The website is therefore becoming less about persuasion and more about validation. Do not just tell people you are good. Show that you have delivered in the past.

Patients are becoming very informed. By the time they reach your website, they may already know most of what they need to know about the treatment. Your website needs to confirm you are the person they believe you are.

Traditional search behavior is changing as well. Search impressions may still be holding up, but click-through rates fall when an AI overview answers the question directly. People no longer need to click on several websites simply to gather basic information.

That creates an important distinction for healthcare marketers. A clinic may still appear prominently in search, but fewer people may visit the website during the early research stage. Those who do click through may be much further along in their decision-making process.

Rankings and traffic cannot be the only things healthcare organizations measure. More important is whether the people who arrive at your site are informed, relevant and ready to take the next step.

For clinicians and healthcare organizations, my advice is to look at every place a patient or AI tool might try to validate you. Start with your Google Business Profile. Is it complete? Do you have pictures and videos of your clinic? Are patients leaving reviews? Are you replying to those reviews, including the negative ones? A thoughtful response to a negative review can itself create trust because it shows patients that if something goes wrong, you are there. You are not going to disappear or refuse to pick up the phone.

Then look at your own website. Make sure your clinicians’ profiles, qualifications, experience, professional associations and relevant registration details are easy to find. Healthcare professionals increasingly cannot hide behind the company. The person and the professional persona matter.

At the same time, patients should not blindly trust everything AI gives them. AI may sometimes pull information from third-party comparison sites or other sources that are incomplete, outdated or influenced by commercial relationships.

So the same principle applies to both sides—trust, but verify. Patients should verify what AI tells them. Healthcare providers should make themselves easy to verify. AI may increasingly determine which providers make the short list. But trust will still determine which provider the patient ultimately chooses.​

Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?