Using GenAI in Health Care? Keep Patient Trust at the Center of Your Strategy

by Alexandra Marchetti, SVP Strategy + Insights at Material

Imagine, when you’re sick, instantly receiving a personalized treatment plan, tailored just for you. That’s the promise of generative AI (GenAI) in health care – but only if patients trust it.

Industries across the business landscape are deploying AI and GenAI in more innovative and impactful ways. And health care is leading the charge, increasing adoption with more nuanced and targeted strategies to improve both the back-end business – like optimizing payment systems and bridging gaps in care delivery – and the patient experience by providing faster, smarter and more personalized diagnostics and treatments.

However, since patients’ lives and health are on the line, the stakes, risks and responsibilities around AI are higher in health care than in most other industries. With these heightened stakes comes an even greater imperative for health care companies to ensure people trust the AI-powered technology driving efficiency and innovation in the sector.

We know that consumer trust is an ongoing barrier to wider adoption and acceptance of transformative AI systems and tools, no matter the industry. For health care leaders to fully realize the potential of AI, instill patient confidence and foster wider acceptance, they must view the technology through the eyes of patients and their families.

AI and GenAI represent a transformative opportunity for health care, but this opportunity should be strategically approached in a way that builds patient trust at every touchpoint.

GenAI’s Promising Future in Health Care

Just as in other industries, there is a range of sentiment among health care executives about the potential of GenAI, from fear to excitement.

While trendsetting use cases are already pushing the industry forward, significant challenges remain to be addressed.

Some are general hurdles facing GenAI across the board, like data quality and integration, educating frontline employees on how to use AI and its potential for biases. Other challenges are more particular to health care, such as the heavy regulation of the industry, data privacy concerns and, most importantly, anxiety and lack of trust among consumers.

These challenges aren’t unexpected or surprising: even though AI and machine learning have been deployed in health care for years, GenAI is still relatively new in the space and challenges like these are typical of new innovations.

And experts are optimistic that those initial roadblocks can be managed and that GenAI will improve the health care experience and save the system and patients a lot of money – to the tune of an estimated $360 billion in the next five years, according to the NBER.

Emerging GenAI Use Cases in Health Care

The most impactful examples of GenAI in the health care industry are those where the technology serves as an augmentation, not a replacement, of the human relationship between provider and patient. It is helping providers move at the speed of health in ways that deliver better care and better experiences for everyone.

Here are some of the major ways GenAI is being used to make health care better and more effective.

1.      Deliver a better patient experience

This is the most important thing in any interaction between a health care provider and a patient.

• AI can analyze consumer data, preferences and outcomes to help create personalized health care plans, improving patient understanding and consumer satisfaction.

• It can also provide tailored education for individual patient needs, such as information specific to particular ailments and appropriate treatments.

• Chatbots powered by GenAI can answer patient queries, schedule appointments and summarize doctor reviews, thereby improving accessibility and reducing wait times for patients.

2.      Deeper insights to deliver personalized communication

Because of the highly specific nature of each individual’s health, the way providers communicate with patients needs to be highly personalized. And that communication also needs to be flexible to fit with specific patient needs and preferences. GenAI can enable this level of customization and flexibility.

• GenAI-powered customer questionnaires can adapt to patient responses and medical history to deliver personalized communications tailored to their specific needs.

• Providers can run targeted campaigns to patients and consumers based on their demographics, conditions and behavior to better connect them with the care they need.

• GenAI can help translate communications and content into many different languages to make it accessible to non-English speaking populations.

3.      Reduce costs and create operational efficiency

GenAI is helping to streamline health care so more energy and focus can go where it’s most important and most valuable: the human-to-human interaction between provider and patient.

• Through automated generation of clinical documentation like discharge summaries and progress notes from doctor-patient conversations or by summarizing electronic health record (EHR) data, GenAI can provide physicians with actionable insights quickly and efficiently.

• GenAI can automate literature reviews to better inform the work being done in both clinical and research settings.

• Tools that cut through unnecessary bureaucracy and bring down the barriers between provider and patient can facilitate better communication and ensure that information is delivered in a clear and timely manner.

Many health care organizations are executing a comprehensive enterprise strategy for GenAI that integrates the technology across different aspects of the business to enhance the consumer experience, from the first to last touchpoints, with efficiency and scalability.

Why Trust is Essential When Using GenAI in Health Care

In every area where GenAI can help facilitate the health care delivery experience – as is the case in every interaction in the health care space – they’re only successful if consumers trust that their health is the priority and that their care won’t be compromised by the new technology.

Health care providers handle highly sensitive personal data, and their day-to-day work can have enormous consequences for patients and their health. And, for many, interactions with the health care system can be more emotional than with other industries because of the personal nature and life-or-death stakes at play – many are scared, anxious or skeptical when they interact with the system.

When asked in Deloitte’s 2024 Health Care Consumer Survey, 30% of consumers who aren’t using GenAI for health- or wellness-related purposes reported they don’t trust the information GenAI would provide – tied for the top reason provided, and a significant increase year-over-year from 2023.

Trust is currency in the health care space, and organizations need to be mindful of how they use GenAI to ensure they don’t inadvertently breach that invaluable trust patients put in providers.

How Health Care Leaders can Build Patient Trust While Leveraging GenAI

For healthcare organizations to strike the balance between technological innovation and patient trust, they must be proactive in communicating about how GenAI is being used throughout the patient journey. Here are four proactive actions brand leaders can take to do this effectively:

1. Prioritize transparency– Brands must be upfront when AI is being used and clearly articulate what problems it is helping humans to solve. When AI is cited without a clear explanation and justification for its use and value to the patient, it can spark confusion and undermine trust.

2. Position GenAI as supplemental to humans, rather than as a replacement – AI is a tool to enhance human-centered care; it’s not a substitute for the human-to-human care between patient and provider essential to quality care. For example, if you are leveraging GenAI to answer patient questions or triage them to the right support tools, there should still be an easy pathway that allows them to speak to a human.

3. Ensure human oversight and control– Patients are more likely to trust AI-generated information and solutions if it’s clear the provider is still in control. Examples could include making sure there is a human being reviewing any AI-generated content or clinical notes in health care settings for accuracy, clarity and relevance.

4. Ask for consent– This links to transparency, but it’s important to let patients and consumers know when they are talking to an AI-generated bot, especially in a health care setting. There is often fear among consumers that these tools are being used to collect data that may impact them negatively (e.g., premium costs and / or coverage). To avoid crossing any boundaries, brands should ensure patients understand how GenAI is being used and can make an informed decision about whether to give consent or opt out.

5. Pilot internally– A great way to ensure the most effective AI deployments is to pilot it with internal stakeholders first. By layering AI onto existing datasets and testing with internal users, teams can refine the technology and address challenges before a full rollout to ensure the best chance for success.

Build Trust with Material’s Team of Behavioral Science and AI Experts

Material is uniquely structured to understand people at deeper levels, as our team of behavioral scientists unlock valuable insights into patient motivations, needs and behavioral drivers. We can help you develop custom strategies to strike the balance of driving efficiency and technological innovation while also building that essential trust with your consumers.

Want to learn more about how Material’s behavioral science expertise can help your health care organization lead the way on AI and patient trust? Start the conversation today.