If you’ve ever waited on hold to make a doctor’s appointment or struggled to get a prescription refilled, you’re not alone, and new Connected Health Consumer research from Salesforce shows you’re not asking for too much.
The survey of more than 3,200 patients, including 400 in Ireland, found that those frustrations are real and widespread.
In the past two years, AI usage in healthcare has gone from something rare (just 2% of U.S. adults turned to AI for healthcare information in 2024) to being a widespread practice.
“Trust and transparency are at the foundation of patient experience. We’re not going to compromise on that. Patients need to know (they must know) that their information is protected and that an escalation to a live agent is always available to them,” Tyler Bauer of UChicago Medicine, said.
Nearly 60% of global consumers now report that they use AI to ask about their personal health.
Meanwhile, medical providers use it to initiate clinical workflows, manage scheduling, and create personalised treatment recommendations.
Today, 57% of global patients say they are comfortable using agentic AI in healthcare contexts, and 61% would share their full medical history with AI for a faster diagnosis.
That openness mirrors what we are already seeing on the provider side. A separate Salesforce study found 71% of U.S. healthcare workers predict agentic AI will be essential to healthcare operations within five years. Both sides of the exam room are ready. But patients are setting clear terms for what ready actually means.
That readiness is driven by daily frustration with a system that is not working. The administrative burden alone is already eroding patient trust and care adherence across health systems.
47% of Irish patients delay care because the digital process is too confusing, and 65% skip or delay necessary care because scheduling is too difficult. Over half (52%) hang up after 10 minutes on hold with a doctor’s office to seek care elsewhere or avoid it altogether.
Nearly three quarters (73%) have run out of medication waiting for a prescription refill to be approved and 87% say it’d be valuable if their primary doctor was automatically notified after an emergency room visit, an expectation of basic coordination that current systems routinely fail to meet.
When it comes to AI specifically, patients’ top concerns focus on accuracy and data privacy. 35% cite accuracy of diagnosis or treatment as their primary worry, while 31% point to the privacy and security of their health data.
And where the AI comes from matters enormously. Patients are three times more likely to trust an AI agent integrated directly into their doctor’s secure portal than one available through a public chatbot or general health site, a clear signal that institutional accountability and provider context are central to acceptance.
“When AI is built on a unified, governed data foundation, it earns trust where the stakes are highest. Clinicians can see how decisions were made. Patients can act on recommendations that show their work, cite their sources, and connect the dots across the full care journey. That’s the transparent AI healthcare has been waiting for,” Amit Khanna, SVP and GM, agentforce health, Salesforce, said.
The data shows patients are willing to embrace agentic AI for logistical tasks like billing and rescheduling.
Forty-two percent prefer AI agents over humans to avoid wait times but only when human backup is visible and accessible. 68% say they value being able to get help at any time of day, even if that means interacting with an AI agent rather than a person during traditional office hours.
“Patients don’t want AI to replace their doctors. They want it to safely replace the waiting, and the friction. When technology is built on trust, healthcare can finally move as fast as we do,” Dr. Sophia Saleem, chief health officer at Salesforce, said.
The loyalty implications are real. 41% say a 24/7 agentic assistant would make them more likely to stay within a provider’s network for follow-up care. There is a direct line between administrative trust and retention.
Patients managing chronic conditions feel the need most acutely. 69% of patients with long-term conditions say a 24/7 digital helper would make managing their health easier. Yet none of that convenience erases the expectation of human backup.
For healthcare organisations, the message from this research is consistent – patients are ready to embrace agentic AI but only when it is built on transparent, governed foundations with clear escalation paths, audit trails, and provider-backed deployment.
That is precisely what Salesforce has built – AI that earns trust because it is governed, explainable, and always connected to a human when it matters most.
Patryk Goron
Ltd
