• Posted February 2, 2024

Americans Have Mixed Feelings on Tech, AI in Health Care: Poll

Americans are cautiously optimistic that AI will be able to improve the health care they receive, a new Cleveland Clinic survey finds.

About three out of five Americans believe that AI will lead to better heart care, and 65% say they would be comfortable receiving heart advice from AI technology, the poll showed.

But people are still reluctant to place their health solely in the hands of a computer chatbot.

For example, nine out of 10 (89%) said they would seek a second opinion from a doctor before acting on AI recommendations, even though 72% believe that the advice they get from AI is accurate.

“The increasing number of advancements in AI and in digital health has the potential to transform healthcare delivery, especially in cardiovascular care,” said Dr. Samir Kapadia, chair of cardiovascular medicine at Cleveland Clinic.

“As clinicians, we are getting a lot of questions from our patients about this topic,” Kapadia said. “As these [technologies] continue to advance, we'd like to educate our patients about the role of AI and technology in assisting healthcare professionals, rather than replacing them.”

Overall, half of Americans say they use at least one type of technology to monitor their health, the survey found.

Daily step count is the most frequently tracked health metric, with three in five Americans  (60%) using tech to track the amount they walk.

That's followed by followed by heart rate (53%), calorie burn (40%) and blood pressure (32%).

Personal health technology is helping improve well-being, as far as Americans are concerned.

Four out of five users (79%) said they noticed positive changes to their physical or mental health after using health-monitoring tech.

More than half (53%) said they began exercising more regularly once they started using wearable health trackers, and half are now getting in more steps per day.

One-quarter of Americans (23%) say they use health monitors to find motivation or accountability for meeting daily activity goals.

The survey involved 1,000 Americans ages 18 or older who were polled between Nov. 10 and Nov. 21 in 2023.

More information

Coursera has more about AI in health care.

SOURCE: Cleveland Clinic, news release, Feb. 1, 2024