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Being Found When Patients Ask AI
More searches now end with an AI summary instead of a click. A Pew study found people clicked far less often when one appeared. For a local membership practice, that changes what it means to be found, and what you can actually control.
Start here: the questions this brief answers
Tap a question for the short answer, then jump to the evidence.
Search is changing under your feet. In Pew Research Center's analysis of 900 adults' Google searches in March 2025, 18% of searches produced an AI summary. When one appeared, people clicked a traditional result 8% of the time versus 15% without one, clicked a link inside the summary only 1% of the time, and ended their browsing session more often. Many patients also now ask AI tools health questions directly, though a KFF poll found most who use them doubt their accuracy. You can't control what an AI says. You can control whether accurate, consistent, plain-language information about your practice exists in the places those tools and patients look, and whether your community already knows your name.
“You don't have to be seen everywhere. You simply need to be seen everywhere in your niche. That was true before AI search, and it's even more true now.”
Are AI summaries really reducing clicks?
Yes, in Pew's data. With an AI summary, people clicked a traditional result 8% of the time, versus 15% without one, and clicked a cited source only 1% of the time.
Go to the full answer ↓Can I make AI recommend my practice?
No one can promise that. You can make sure accurate, consistent information about your practice is easy to find and understand.
Go to the full answer ↓What should I focus on first?
An accurate business listing, plain answers to common questions on your website, honest reviews, and local relationships. Part 3 has the checklist.
Go to the full answer ↓Do patients trust AI health answers?
Many use them but have doubts. A 2024 KFF poll found most who use AI chatbots doubt they provide accurate health information. See Brief No. 25.
Go to the full answer ↓The click is disappearing
For twenty years, being found meant being clicked. That’s changing.
Pew Research Center analyzed the Google browsing of 900 U.S. adults in March 2025. Of 68,879 searches, 18% produced an AI-generated summary.1 Population Data
Pew’s summary: “For searches that resulted in an AI-generated summary, users very rarely clicked on the sources cited.”1
For a membership practice, that means a prospective member may form an impression of you, or of concierge medicine in general, without ever reaching your website.
Patients ask, but they don't fully trust
Patients also ask AI tools health questions directly. KFF’s 2024 polling found that most people who use AI chatbots doubt they provide accurate health information.2 Population Data Brief No. 25 covers what that means in the exam room.
That doubt is an opening. When AI gives a generic answer, a trusted local name still matters. People will look for confirmation: a friend’s recommendation, reviews, a website that answers their question in plain words.
You don't have to be seen everywhere. You simply need to be seen everywhere in your niche.
A marketing mentor’s advice quoted in Branded (2025).3
What a practice can actually control
| Control | What to do |
|---|---|
| Your business listings | Keep name, address, phone, hours and practice description accurate and identical everywhere |
| Plain answers | Put clear answers to the ten questions prospects ask most on your website, in their words |
| Who you serve | Say plainly who you serve best and where (Brief No. 58) |
| Reviews | Ask every happy patient; reply safely (Brief No. 70) |
| Local footprint | Talks, events and physician relationships that get your name mentioned locally (Brief No. 77) |
| Accuracy checks | Every quarter, ask a few AI tools about your practice and correct anything wrong at the source |
CMT original guidance. No tactic guarantees how any AI tool will describe your practice. Evidence type: Practice Insight.
Be wary of anyone promising to make AI tools recommend you. Fake reviews and paid praise are banned by the FTC (Brief No. 70), and misleading health claims carry their own risks. Accurate, consistent and useful is the durable strategy.
Be findable, and be worth finding
- Search your practice name and your town plus "concierge doctor." Note what appears, including any AI summary.
- List the ten questions prospects ask most on the phone. Answer each on your website in plain words.
- Check that your phone number and hours match everywhere online.
AI can't replace a local reputation. The planner helps you build one, starting with the people in your backyard.
Free. No sign-up. Your answers stay in your browser. Step 3 of CMT's Learn, Build, Lead tools. It helps you pick the patient segments that fit your practice, find where they are, plan conversations with local physicians, check that your message sounds like care rather than a pitch, and leave with a 90-day plan.
This brief is educational. It does not endorse any search, AI or marketing vendor. Advertising and health claims must follow FTC rules and applicable state law.
Fewer clicks
AI summaries cut clicks nearly in half in Pew's data.
Accurate everywhere
Consistent facts and plain answers.
Local wins
Be everywhere in your niche.
How this brief was built
This brief draws on a Pew Research Center analysis of Google browsing data (March 2025), a KFF poll on AI chatbots and health information (2024), and CMT's books. The checklist in Part 3 is CMT original guidance; search and AI tools change frequently, and no tactic guarantees visibility.
How to read the evidence types
Every key finding is labeled by evidence type. Labels describe the type of evidence, not its value. Each type answers different questions. Funding is disclosed on every source.
Randomized trials and systematic reviews.Best for cause and effect.
Large observational studies and government data.Best for trends at scale.
Surveys, smaller studies and expert consensus.Best for real-world experience.
Company-sponsored or company-reported data that is not peer-reviewed.Best for early signals and operating data.
Statutes, regulation and official guidance.Best for what is required.
What we don't know
- How AI tools choose which local practices to mention; providers don't publish full methods and they change often.
- How often prospective concierge patients use AI tools when choosing a doctor.
- Whether Pew's Google findings apply to other search and AI tools.
How to cite this brief
External review: this brief has not yet been reviewed by an outside expert. When review is complete, the reviewer is credited by name above with any conflicts of interest, and the version number is updated. Reviewers check accuracy and fairness; CMT is responsible for the final content.
Corrections policy: when an error is identified, CMT corrects it in the open and updates the version number above. Send corrections to the editor through conciergemedicinetoday.net.
Related CMT Research Briefs
References
- Pew Research Center. Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results (900 U.S. adults' browsing, March 2025). July 22, 2025. www.pewresearch.orgFunding: not stated (conducted and published by Pew Research Center)
- KFF. Poll: most who use artificial intelligence doubt AI chatbots provide accurate health information (KFF Health Misinformation Tracking Poll, 2,428 U.S. adults, June 3 to 24, 2024). August 2024. www.kff.orgFunding: not stated (conducted and published by KFF)
- Tetreault M. Branded: The Concierge Medicine Doctor. Softcover edition. Concierge Medicine Today, LLC; 2025. Includes CMT online polls the publisher describes as not scientific.Funding: Concierge Medicine Today (self-published; no outside funder) CMT original
Educational and informational only. This CMT Research Brief does not constitute medical, legal, tax, financial, accounting or other professional advice, and it does not create a professional relationship of any kind. Statements about laws, regulations, tax rules and payer policies are general, may not reflect the rules in your state, and can change after publication. Consult a qualified attorney, accountant, tax adviser, compliance professional or licensed clinician before acting on anything here.
Independence. Concierge Medicine Today is an independent publication. It does not accept payment for favorable coverage, and it does not favor one practice model over another. Company names and products are mentioned for context only and are not endorsements. Funding is disclosed for every source in the reference list.
Accuracy. CMT verifies figures against their original or best available sources at the time of publication. Where a figure is an estimate, an inference or a company-reported number, the brief says so. This content is not without possible error or omission.
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