AMA Survey Reveals Physicians’ Sentiments on Healthcare AI

A new survey published by the American Medical Association (AMA) shows that clinicians are enthusiastic but cautious about augmented intelligence — also known as artificial intelligence (AI) — in healthcare.

The research highlights physicians’ sentiments around various facets of health AI, including opportunities, concerns, motivations, requirements, and use cases.

“Physicians are optimistic about the advantages that properly designed AI-enabled tools can have for patient care, and nearly two-thirds of physicians see an advantage to AI if key requirements are met,” said AMA president Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH, in a press release emailed to HealthITAnalytics. “The AMA survey illustrates that physicians’ greatest hope for AI rests in reducing the crushing administrative burdens that plague modern medicine, which drain health care resources and pull physicians away from patient care.”

The research surveyed 1,081 practicing physicians in August 2023 to gain insights into clinicians’ perspectives on AI usage in healthcare. The press release indicates that the survey’s findings could help inform how these tools are developed so that they meet the needs of clinicians.

Of those surveyed, 38 percent reported that they currently do not incorporate AI use cases into their practice.

For those that do leverage AI, 14 percent use the technology to create discharge instructions, care plans, or progress notes; 13 percent use it for documentation of billing codes, medical charts or visit notes; 11 percent for translation services; and 11 percent use AI for assistive diagnosis.

Approximately 41 percent of survey respondents indicated that they are equally excited and concerned about the potential of healthcare AI.

For those who reported being enthusiastic about the tools’ potential, much of the excitement centered on AI’s ability to reduce administrative burden. Roughly 54 percent and 48 percent of these respondents, respectively, reported that they were most excited for AI to improve documentation and prior authorization.

In terms of where clinicians think AI is most helpful, 72 percent indicated the tools can enhance diagnostic ability; 69 percent reported AI is useful for workflow efficiency; and 61 percent stated that the tools can assist in improving clinical outcomes.

Despite the enthusiasm around AI’s potential, the survey findings highlight that the use of these tools in healthcare is also a significant cause for concern among some clinicians.

These concerns were highest for AI technologies that could impact the patient-physician relationship or patient privacy, with 39 and 41 percent of respondents indicating that they see the tools as potentially harmful in these cases.

The survey also asked physicians what would bolster their adoption of AI tools.

Data privacy assurances and not being held liable for AI model errors were top attributes that clinicians believe are required to advance adoption, with 87 percent of those surveyed prioritizing these considerations.

To this end, 80 percent of respondents also indicated that transparency is key, noting that they want access to clear information around the design, development, and deployment of AI tools.  

The survey is part of a broader effort by the AMA to support the development of responsible healthcare AI.

Last month, the AMA issued seven principles to guide the development, deployment, and use of health AI. The principles aim to build on existing AI policy and buttress efforts to establish a governance framework for these tools.

The principles focus on maximizing the potential of AI in healthcare while mitigating risk to patients and clinicians.