OPINION:
Twenty percent of healthcare providers have admittedly used “shadow AI” — artificial intelligence diagnostic and medical tools that haven’t been vetted and approved by their organizations. Another 40% said they know of healthcare colleagues who’ve done similarly, according to a recent survey by Wolters Kluwer Health, a software firm.
Welcome to the new healthcare world of “patient last” — of prioritizing the system, the bureaucracies, the providers over the actual patient who’s ultimately paying the bills.
Shadow AI in the medical arena is a growing trend that brings privacy concerns, cybersecurity vulnerabilities and patient care problems. Think of it as off-the-books diagnostics. And if nobody is watching, then nobody really knows where the data used for the medical assessment goes; how effective and accurate the data-driven testing is; or even if patients are aware of the AI tools used in the administration of their healthcare. Informed consent? Don’t be silly. That’s so yesteryear.
Some of Wolters Kluwer’s findings: In 2025, the average cost of healthcare breaches across the industry was $7.42 million. Moreover, data breaches in the healthcare industry take “the longest to identify and contain,” Wolters Kluwer wrote, leading to serious and potentially long-running compromises in patient privacy. Those chatbots? From the report: “Within the healthcare space, AI tools — especially generative AI and chatbots — can pose more serious risks for organizations if they are embedded within patient data applications or used for clinical decision support. These tools can still run the risk of hallucinations, inconsistencies and biases, bringing risks to patient safety, HIPAA violations and compliance concerns.”
The temptation for overworked, underpaid, stressed healthcare workers to turn to AI software as a clinical aid is understandable. After all, much of the medical world is driven by data collection — patient histories, the tracking of treatment efficacies and the like. It’s faster and easier to use software for these purposes than to peer through paper files.
But the more medical records move online, the greater the chance for the occurrence of data breaches that release private information of patients into the unknown.
The more medical experts rely on AI to tell what’s wrong with a patient, and even to prescribe the treatment, the more removed physicians become from those in their care — and after all, don’t some doctors already have difficulty with their bedside manner?
“Why does your doctor seem so rushed and dismissive? … More than half of U.S. adults say their doctors have ignored or dismissed their concerns, or not taken their symptoms seriously, according to a December 2022 national poll,” The Conversation wrote.
More significantly — this, from Practice Builders, in June: “Trust in doctors and hospitals fell from 71.5% in April 2020 to just 40.1% by January 2024. The trust crisis hasn’t eroded in 2026. Patient mistrust is fueled by misinformation generated by artificial intelligence, insurance opacity, a doctor shortage and an increasingly polarized information environment.”
That’s quite a fall from grace.
The COVID pandemic, and the bureaucratic nightmare of America’s medical community that was revealed during the COVID years, certainly eroded quite a bit of Americans’ trust in the healthcare system. So, too, the burgeoning costs and deceptive narratives that came from — and continue to come from — Obamacare and the accompanying growing government meddling into the medical world. Healthcare used to be a personal responsibility; politicians have now turned it into a tax-paid right.
But “shadow AI” — the unauthorized use of technological tools, without patient awareness or consent — is not going to earn back any gold stars for the medical world. Quite the opposite, in fact.
“More than 25% of providers and 10% of administrators cited curiosity or experimentation as the reason behind shadow AI use,” Health Care Dive wrote.
That’s a bit unsettling.
Not many people take kindly to being treated like a lab specimen.
If patients don’t believe the diagnoses their doctors give them are coming from a place of solid medical research, genuine compassion and a regard for real cures, and instead wonder if what they’re being told is based on an algorithm that takes into account the insurance agency’s costs, the various risk factors that could compromise the physician’s personal record and the potential for lawsuits against the hospital — well then, patient trust in medical professionals will continue to erode. And the world of healthcare providers won’t have anyone to blame but themselves.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “God-Given Or Bust: Defeating Marxism and Saving America With Biblical Truths,” is available by clicking HERE.
Follow the author
Please read our comment policy before commenting.