Americans Believe AI Will Improve Healthcare, But Concerns Exist, Survey Finds

Many Americans believe that AI can improve healthcare during the next decade – but not without some worries.

So say the results from a recent survey from Gwynedd Mercy University, based in suburban Philadelphia. The online study, conducted by The Harris Poll, surveyed 2,099 adults in November 2024.

“The survey highlights some positive perceptions of AI in healthcare, but it also shows some concerns,” said Dr. Jane Tang, dean of the Frances M. Maguire College of Nursing and Health Professions, in an interview. “Generally speaking, the public seems to really have very positive perceptions of AI in healthcare.”

Among the findings:

59 percent of American adults believe using AI to assist in diagnosis and treatment will result in better health outcomes for patients and reduce the cost of healthcare (57%) within the next decade
75 percent believe AI should play a role in educating and training healthcare professionals
77 percent believe AI can effectively reduce healthcare disparities in the next five years, particularly through enhanced early detection of diseases (42%) and the use of AI-powered diagnostic tools to provide affordable healthcare options (36%).

At the same time, some 88 percent of respondents expressed concerns about the increasing use of AI in healthcare settings, with 58 percent worried about the lack of human oversight. “AI is here to complement, not to replace, human oversight, human expertise,” Tang said.

Gwynedd Mercy plans to open a healthcare innovation center later this year to provide education in advanced technologies, including AI. The center will emphasize the intentional and ethical use of technology.

AI Requires More Healthcare Staffing

The need for staff able to understand and implement AI is certain to grow. A recent article in Medpage Today stressed that AI systems require consistent monitoring and staffing to put in place and keep them working well. The article quotes former FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, MD, saying, “I do not believe there’s a single health system, in the United States, that’s capable of validating an AI algorithm that’s put into place in a clinical care system.”

Another article from Health Affairs, while noting that AI can potentially reduce clinician burnout, calls for a set of principles to guide the evaluation of AI technologies in clinical settings. One, perhaps obviously, states that “any new tool must convincingly demonstrate that it works.” Another is that AI solutions should be evaluated on validated qualitative and quantitative clinician outcome metrics.

Finally, another Health Affairs article points out four key policy-related domains critical to enabling the use of AI to promote the health of all Americans:

ensuring safe, effective, and trustworthy use of AI;
promotion and development of an AI-competent healthcare workforce;
investing in AI research to support the science, practice, and delivery of health and health care; and
promotion of policies and procedures to clarify AI liability and responsibilities.

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Louis Pilla

As a longtime writer, editor, and product director, Louis Pilla has provided information, analysis, and insight for nurses and other clinicians.

Now a freelance writer and editor, he served as a Director at Elsevier, where he was instrumental in the development of major online nursing reference and procedure products. Previously, he served as Editorial Director at Nurses.com, one of the first nursing websites, and was Executive Editor at Nursing magazine, a premier large-circulation journal.

Today, he continues to serve nurses and other clinicians by reporting on developments and trends in healthcare with meaning, context, and insight.