How AI Influences Which Brands Are Found, Trusted, and Chosen

April 21, 2026

// By John Marzano //

Conversational tools like ChatGPT shape early perceptions, change search behavior, and train patients on which providers to trust, often before a health system even enters the picture.

Today, every health care provider must recognize one emerging reality reshaping the industry: Consumers are more informed, more skeptical, and more selective than ever in choosing their care. Consider that:

• 64 percent of consumers say the health care system is too complex to navigate.
• 49 percent of consumers report avoiding or postponing care in the past year.
• Many consumers spend hours researching before making care decisions.
• Trust in institutions has declined, particularly following the pandemic.

At the same time, patients leverage more tools than ever — AI, search, reviews, and third-party rankings — to guide their decisions. They ask questions. And increasingly, AI answers.

The Patient Journey in a ChatGPT Health World was the focus of a recent Strategic Health Care Marketing webinar, bringing together industry leaders to explore how AI is reshaping how patients find and choose care.

“Patients aren’t just searching anymore, they’re asking,” says Amanda Todorovich, enterprise executive director of digital marketing at Cleveland Clinic. “When AI tools summarize information, they emphasize clarity, authority, and structure.”

Todorovich and co-presenters Christine Albert, principal of Adams Street Consulting and former chief experience officer at LCMC Health, Leonard Achan, CEO of LiveOnNY, and Steve Leibforth, managing director of Castle Connolly shared their perspectives on this rapidly emerging consumer shift and discussed how to compete in this new environment.

---

---

Log in below to access this content:

Username:

Password:

---