AI, reviews, and the new rules of healthcare transparency

If the past few years have taught us anything, it’s that technology has shifted the balance of power. Digitally savvy consumers now expect healthcare to match the same level of clarity, convenience, and control they experience in retail or travel, or anywhere else in the commercial sector. Those expectations are being reshaped by new search behaviors, driven by conversational search—everything from ChatGPT to Google AI Mode to Perplexity. The very physics of the internet is changing, and healthcare discovery and consideration will change with it. 

For patients, they're not waiting for health systems to catch up. They’re online, proactively searching for care using every tool available to them. They’re bypassing traditional referral pathways, reading reviews, comparing wait times, and checking insurance compatibility—all before ever making contact. Those tasks are uniquely suited to AI search and prompting, and they’re getting what they need, on their terms, and repeating those successful behaviors. So if healthcare organizations aren’t meeting their expectations during the first digital touchpoints, consumers will move on to the next—one that shows up with answers and transparency, in real time.

Building trust in the age of AI

From generative search to AI Overviews, the way consumers find, assess, and engage with providers is undergoing a seismic shift. New research shows that 53% of consumers are already comfortable using AI for health-related tasks. And over a third (36%) are actively doing so—researching conditions (43%), exploring treatments (42%), finding providers (35%), and scheduling appointments (31%). But as this shift accelerates, a simple truth remains: Comfort isn’t the same as confidence. Confidence must be earned.

As AI becomes embedded in everything from search algorithms to patient communication, consumers are demanding transparency and integrity at every step of their journey, especially where algorithms intersect with care. In fact, 75% want to know when AI is used in healthcare communications—and nearly one in three would feel uneasy if they learned messages from their provider were written by AI. Surprisingly enough, this isn’t simply because healthcare is so sensitive, personal, and important. Studies confirm that when consumers see “AI” promoted as a primary feature, they become more skeptical—raising concerns and influencing buying behavior, even around everyday consumer goods like electronics.  

Consumers want to know:

• When is AI being used?
• How is it shaping healthcare choices?
• Who is, ultimately, accountable?

These are smart—and fair—questions. Because as we’ve seen in our work across brand and reputation, transparency is the accelerant of trust, and trust is the prerequisite to choice.

The question isn’t whether consumers will continue to use AI to navigate their complex care journeys. The real question is whether healthcare organizations are structuring the systems, content, and interactions in ways that reinforce transparency and credibility in this new landscape. 

Healthcare's anti-review gating imperative

But AI isn’t the only area where consumers expect transparency. So next, let’s talk about review gating—i.e., the practice of publishing only positive reviews. The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) stance on the matter is clear: It's deceptive, and a violation of policy.

When consumers see unfiltered, authentic experiences, they’re more likely to choose your brand. Authenticity is the currency of credibility. Healthcare organizations must resist the temptation to manipulate the narrative. Soliciting positive feedback or suppressing negative reviews is both misleading and erodes trust. Today’s consumers are savvy—and skeptical. But they’re not expecting perfection. They’re expecting honesty. In today’s digital-first journey, a few critical reviews don’t damage trust; they reinforce it. Our data shows that 45% of consumers say overly curated or sponsored reviews are the biggest red flag when evaluating a provider.

This matters because online reviews have officially reached parity with professional referrals. Today’s healthcare consumers—especially digital-native Gen Z and millennials—are turning to Google, not just their primary care physician, when choosing a provider. In fact, 59% now rely on online search as a primary decision-making tool—a number that continues to rise with each generation. If consumers don’t see high-quality, trustworthy reviews from real patients like themselves, they’ll look elsewhere. 

Healthcare organizations must commit to full transparency when it comes to reviews, publishing all PHI-free, appropriate content, regardless of sentiment.

Review transparency: 3 ways to win provider buy-in

1. Delegate provider involvement: Choose between standard, all-in and provider opt-in models. Give providers the choice to participate fully in the program or opt-out.
2. Engage with spotlight reports: Spotlight report data helps individual providers understand the current online landscape, earning stakeholder buy-in and helping them see the bigger picture.
3. Safeguard with appeals workflow: Although not intended to gate unfavorable reviews, the appeals workflow in Transparency can give providers peace of mind that they can open a dialogue about reviews that they’d like to contest.

Competing for consumer choice in the answer engine era

But back to the hot-button disruptor everyone’s watching: AI. AI isn’t just changing how consumers interact with healthcare content. It's changing where that content lives, and how it’s delivered. We’re entering what some have called the "agentic web," where answers are surfaced by AI agents, not traditional search results. In this new landscape, AI-powered recommendations outrank simple SEO rankings. And what Google recommends is now shaped by how well content aligns with a user’s intent, how structured and credible the data is, and whether it meets the algorithm’s definition of "helpful."

This marks a paradigm shift from link-driven search to AI-mediated experiences. As search engines evolve into answer engines, healthcare brands must think beyond SEO and Google rankings, and start thinking like data providers to AI. The organizations that thrive will be those that ensure their content—reviews, provider bios, FAQs, and more—provides the trust signals AI prioritizes. Because when consumers ask their digital assistant who to trust with their care, your brand’s visibility in that split-second response depends on your online reputation.

AI has already done what most tech trends don’t: It stuck. But will it always hold this much sway over consumer choice? That depends on whether AI earns consumer trust—or breaks it. For AI to stay in the lead, it must deliver value transparently, and ethically. Lose that trust, and the pendulum swings back fast. If AI is to play a trusted role in healthcare, it must be truly helpful, honest, and human-centered.

Transparency as a growth strategy

Technology may be changing the game. But the rules of trust remain the same.

The message to healthcare organizations is clear: The digital front door is only as strong as the clarity and candor that welcomes consumers in. The health systems that lead in this space aren’t simply future-proofing. They’re operationalizing transparency to build consumer trust at scale.

Be open about your use of AI. Be authentic when sharing reviews. And, above all, be transparent in a way that honors both the voice of your consumers and the values of your brand.

There's one more topic that deserves at least a mention: price transparency. The federal government signed laws and enacted executive orders to expand consumer access to pricing information—and, in 2025, started adding teeth to the legislation with non-trivial fines. Today, there aren’t tried-and-true ways for patients to find (and understand) the required information. But tools like Gemini, ChatGPT, and Perplexity are fully capable of finding, synthesizing, and distributing insights related to your public price transparency information. Press Ganey is keeping a close eye on both the regulatory landscape and, maybe more importantly, the consumer experience landscape as it relates to these active developments.

At Press Ganey, we partner with leading health systems to transform transparency into a long-term strategic asset. If your organization is ready to build deeper trust, strengthen consumer loyalty, and lead in an AI-driven world, I invite you to connect with our consumer experience team to start the conversation.