Physician enthusiasm for healthcare AI rises, concerns linger

A growing number of physicians are enthusiastic about using healthcare AI, but concerns regarding data privacy and regulatory oversight persist, according to a new AMA survey.

In August 2023, the AMA conducted a survey of 1,183 physicians to better understand physician sentiments towards the use of AI in healthcare, including current use, key concerns, areas of greatest opportunity and requirements for adoption. The AMA repeated the study in November 2024.

Overall, the AMA found that the share of physicians whose enthusiasm exceeded their concerns with health AI increased from 30% in 2023 to 35% in 2024.

Further, the portion of physicians whose concerns exceeded their enthusiasm for health AI decreased from 29% in 2023 to 25% in 2024. Two in five physicians remain equally excited and concerned about healthcare AI, with almost no change from 2023 and 2024.

Other key findings from the survey include:

• A majority (68%) of physicians surveyed in 2024 reported that they see definite or some advantage to using AI technology, compared to 65% in 2023.
• About three in five (66%) physicians surveyed in 2024 said they use AI in their practice, up from 38% in 2023.
• According to 57% of physicians surveyed in 2024, the top area of opportunity for AI was addressing administrative burden, up from 56% in 2023.

AI use cases for clinical documentation continue to be the most relevant to physicians, including documentation of visit notes and the creation of discharge instructions.

"The AMA survey illustrates that physicians are increasingly intrigued by the assistive role of health AI and the potential of AI-enable tools to reduce administrative burdens, enhance diagnostic accuracy and personalize treatments," Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, M.D., M.P.H., AMA immediate past president, said in a press release.

"But there remain unresolved physician concerns with the design of health AI and the potential of flawed AI-enabled tools to put privacy at risk, integrate poorly with EHR systems, offer incorrect conclusions or recommendations and introduce new liability concerns," Ehrenfeld noted.

Surveyed physicians indicated increased oversight as the top regulatory action needed to drive physician confidence and adoption of AI.

Further, physicians surveyed in 2024 noted that the top facilitators of physician AI adoption were a designated feedback channel (88%), data privacy assurances (87%) and EHR integration (84%).

In 2023, the top enablers to drive physician AI adoption were data privacy assurances (87%), not being held liable for AI model errors (87%) and medical liability coverage (86%).

Hannah Nelson has been covering news related to health information technology and health data interoperability since 2020.