More than a third of clinicians are able to see more patients through the use of artificial intelligence, with a median of five more patients per week, a new report from Philips has found.
Future Health Index 2026 (PDF) draws insights from more than 2,000 healthcare professionals and 20,000 patients across 10 countries.
Almost three-quarters (74%) of clinicians say their use of AI-enabled tools provided by their organization has increased over the past year. Among clinicians surveyed, 52% use AI to transcribe clinical notes, and nearly half (46%) use generative AI as a professional “sidekick” to discuss work-related ideas. The use of AI is also increasing in clinical decision support, with 45% using AI tools to suggest diagnoses based on patient symptoms and 44% using AI-enabled tools to flag potentially dangerous drug combinations.
In addition to the increased ability to see more patients, nearly six in 10 (58%) clinicians report improved workflow efficiency, and more than half (54%) see an increase in the speed of diagnostic decision-making. Additionally, 40% report improved access to integrated patient data.
According to the report, AI is giving clinicians time, with nearly half (49%) reporting that they saved at least 132 hours a year by using AI tools.
Additionally, 36% of clinicians report that their use of AI has reduced work-related stress, 35% cite improved work-life balance, and 32% say they have less overtime and take-home work. Additionally, 27% of clinicians report that AI has identified or prevented potential medical errors at least three times in the past three months.
As the use of AI increases, nine in 10 clinicians say maintaining human oversight is also essential.
On the patient side, 56% of respondents who regularly use AI reported being optimistic that the solution could improve healthcare. According to the report, patients said these tools made them feel more informed about their health status (45%), allowed them to ask better questions of their doctor (47%), and helped them get the most out of their appointments (41%).
Shez Partvi, chief innovation officer at Philips, said in a statement that AI is bringing “tangible changes to daily clinical practice” for both patients and healthcare providers.
“We’re seeing people save meaningful time, care for more patients, and feel better at work,” Partovi said. “At its core, AI is there to support healthcare workers, giving them the space to focus on what matters most: clinical decision-making and patient care. At the same time, many healthcare systems are still in the early stages of AI adoption, and we’re seeing serious work being done on infrastructure and training.”
The report notes that AI adoption has been uneven, “exposing gaps” in organizations’ readiness for such tools. Although 61% of clinicians report that their leaders are taking appropriate steps toward AI implementation, 77% report that training is insufficient, inconsistent, or unavailable.
Nearly three-quarters (72%) of U.S. healthcare workers turn to personal AI tools when workplace options don’t meet their needs. This suggests that clinician demand for AI is changing rapidly, sometimes faster than organizations can respond, as healthcare professionals use publicly available tools alongside those provided by organizations.
“If healthcare gets this right, there is a huge opportunity. Integrated AI has the potential to help healthcare teams move toward more coordinated, proactive, and personalized care, supporting earlier intervention, better patient experiences, and improved outcomes,” Partovi and Carla Goulart Perron, chief medical officer at Philips, said in the report.
“However, scaling AI responsibly is just as important as scaling AI quickly,” they write. “As AI becomes more integrated into healthcare, trust in AI will be strengthened or eroded by how healthcare systems and technology partners integrate and manage it. This places a clear responsibility on technology partners to go beyond isolated solutions and engineer AI into clinical workflows in a reliable, interoperable, and scalable manner.”
