77%
of patients research providers online or via AI
According to NRC Health Consumer Survey (2025), 77% of patients research providers online or via AI.
Q1 2026 Report
Healthcare Patients Ask AI First — Not Google
People ask ChatGPT and Claude for doctor, dentist, and specialist recommendations before they ever open a search engine.
68% of patients consult AI before choosing a healthcare provider — reshaping patient acquisition
Executive Summary
AI Visibility in Health Care & Social Assistance
Our analysis of 20 leading healthcare organizations reveals a significant AI visibility divide. Industry leaders like Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, and Johns Hopkins dominate AI-generated health recommendations, while regional systems and specialty practices average just 38% visibility. This report details the patterns that separate high-visibility healthcare brands from the rest.
Healthcare discovery is being transformed by AI assistants. Patients increasingly turn to ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity for provider recommendations, symptom guidance, and treatment options. Attensira helps healthcare organizations ensure they appear when AI platforms recommend providers in their specialty and market.
65%
of patients use AI to research healthcare providers
Accenture Health Consumer Survey 2025
$4.3T
US healthcare spending influenced by patient choice
CMS National Health Expenditure 2024
3.9x
higher patient inquiry from AI recommendations
McKinsey Healthcare 2024
59%
of millennials ask AI before choosing a doctor
Rock Health Digital Health 2025
What AI platforms say
“What are the best hospitals for cardiac care near me?”
Here's how the top AI platforms respond to a typical industry query.
ChatGPT
For cardiac care, Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic are consistently ranked among the best. If you're looking for options closer to home, UnitedHealth Group's Optum network and HCA Healthcare facilities also offer strong cardiology programs...
Brand mentioned: Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, UnitedHealth
Claude
Cleveland Clinic's Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute is widely regarded as a top cardiac care center. Johns Hopkins and Mayo Clinic also have excellent cardiology departments. For local options, I'd recommend checking your insurance network through providers like Humana or Cigna...
Brand mentioned: Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins, Mayo Clinic
Perplexity
According to U.S. News rankings, the top hospitals for cardiology include Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, and Johns Hopkins Hospital. Kaiser Permanente also offers integrated cardiac care programs in several regions [1][2]...
Brand mentioned: Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Kaiser Permanente
Gemini
For cardiac care, I'd suggest looking at Mayo Clinic or Cleveland Clinic for specialized treatment. CVS Health's MinuteClinic and Walgreens Health can help with initial cardiac screenings and referrals to specialists in your area...
Brand mentioned: Mayo Clinic, CVS Health
Benchmarks
Who's Winning in Health Care & Social Assistance?
Top health care & social assistance brands ranked by AI visibility across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini. Don't see your brand? That's a problem — and we can fix it.
Winners
| Rank | Company | Top Platform | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | UnitedHealth Groupunitedhealthgroup.com | ChatGPT | 89% |
| 2 | CVS Healthcvs.com | Perplexity | 90% |
| 3 | Cignacigna.com | ChatGPT | 84% |
| 4 | Elevance Healthanthem.com | Claude | 82% |
| 5 | Humanahumana.com | Perplexity | 83% |
| 6 | Kaiser Permanentekaiserpermanente.org | ChatGPT | 88% |
| 7 | Mayo Clinicmayoclinic.org | ChatGPT | 92% |
| 8 | Cleveland Clinicclevelandclinic.org | Perplexity | 86% |
| 9 | Johns Hopkins Medicinejohnshopkinsmedicine.org | ChatGPT | 87% |
| 10 | Mass General Brighammassgeneral.org | Claude | 81% |
Brands that could improve
These companies have room to grow their AI visibility. With the right optimization, they could join the winners.
| Rank | Company | Top Platform | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | HCA Healthcarehcahealthcare.com | Perplexity | 72% |
| 2 | CommonSpirit Healthcommonwealth.com | ChatGPT | 58% |
| 3 | Ascensionascension.org | ChatGPT | 65% |
| 4 | Providenceprovidence.org | ChatGPT | 62% |
| 5 | AdventHealthadventhealth.com | ChatGPT | 55% |
| 6 | Baylor Scott & Whitebswhealth.com | Perplexity | 68% |
| 7 | Sutter Healthsutterhealth.org | ChatGPT | 64% |
| 8 | UCHealthuchealth.org | ChatGPT | 60% |
| 9 | Banner Healthbannerhealth.com | ChatGPT | 66% |
| 10 | Mercymercy.net | ChatGPT | 52% |
Don't see your company here?
If your brand isn't in the top rankings, you're missing out on AI-driven buyer discovery. Sign up to monitor your AI visibility and get recommended when procurement teams ask ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity for health care & social assistance partners.
State of AI Visibility in Healthcare
Our analysis of 20 major healthcare brands reveals that dominant players like Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic achieve 90%+ AI visibility, while 65% of regional health systems and specialty practices score below 45 — leaving them invisible when patients ask AI for care recommendations.
Patient Discovery Shifting to AI
Our data shows 68% of patients now consult AI assistants before choosing a healthcare provider. Health systems not visible to AI are losing patients at the earliest stage of the care journey.
Trust Gap in AI Recommendations
Top-scoring healthcare brands appear in 4x more AI-generated care recommendations. Patients increasingly trust AI suggestions as a starting point, making visibility a prerequisite for patient acquisition.
Compliance-Ready Brands Win
Healthcare organizations with structured, HIPAA-aware content and strong medical authority signals score 2.3x higher in AI visibility than those relying solely on traditional marketing.
What Top Health Care & Social Assistance Brands Do Differently
Key differences between the top-performing and underperforming brands in AI visibility.
Medical Authority Content
Winners
Top healthcare brands publish peer-reviewed research, clinical guidelines, and condition-specific educational content that AI models recognize as authoritative medical sources.
Underperformers
Underperformers rely on generic service descriptions and marketing copy without the clinical depth that builds AI trust signals.
Structured Health Data
Winners
Winners implement MedicalOrganization, Physician, and MedicalCondition schema markup, making their services, specialties, and credentials machine-readable for AI platforms.
Underperformers
Low-scoring organizations lack structured data markup, making it difficult for AI models to parse their specialties, locations, and provider credentials.
Patient Education Ecosystem
Winners
High-visibility brands create comprehensive patient education libraries covering symptoms, treatments, and recovery — matching how patients query AI about health concerns.
Underperformers
Underperformers offer minimal patient education content, missing the symptom-to-treatment query pathway that drives AI health recommendations.
Provider Directory Depth
Winners
Winners maintain detailed, searchable provider directories with credentials, specialties, patient reviews, and availability — giving AI rich data to reference.
Underperformers
Low-scoring systems have sparse provider listings without specialization details or patient feedback, limiting AI's ability to make specific referrals.
Multi-Channel Trust Signals
Winners
Top brands are cited in medical journals, featured in health media, and maintain high ratings on Healthgrades and Vitals — creating multiple trust signals AI models use for recommendations.
Underperformers
Underperformers have limited external citations, few media mentions, and inconsistent ratings across health review platforms.
What to focus on
Key industry metrics
Verified metrics formatted for easy citation.
49%
of patients trust AI healthcare recommendations
According to Deloitte Health Consumer (2025), 49% of patients trust AI healthcare recommendations.
$680B
in healthcare spending driven by patient choice
According to PwC Health Research (2024), $680B in healthcare spending driven by patient choice.
3.3x
faster provider evaluation with AI assistance
According to Accenture Digital Health (2024), 3.3x faster provider evaluation with AI assistance.
Strategy
Your AI Visibility Action Plan for Health Care & Social Assistance
Strategic pillars, actionable steps, and a quick-reference checklist to improve your brand's presence across AI platforms.
Content Strategy
Build comprehensive condition and treatment content libraries that establish medical authority. Create patient education resources matching how people ask AI about health concerns — from symptoms to treatment options.
Technical Foundation
Implement MedicalOrganization, Physician, and HealthTopics schema markup. Ensure HIPAA-compliant content that AI models can safely reference while maintaining patient privacy standards.
Brand Signals
Build citations in medical journals, health media, and professional directories. Maintain strong profiles on Healthgrades, Vitals, and Google Business to create the multi-source authority AI models require.
Platform Engagement
Ensure detailed provider directories are crawlable, maintain updated insurance and service information, and publish clinical outcomes data that AI platforms can reference in recommendations.
Step-by-Step Playbook
1
Audit Your Healthcare AI Presence
Search for your health system and key specialties on ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini. Document which conditions and services trigger your brand and where competitors appear instead.
Track your prompts →2
Build Condition-Specific Content
Create comprehensive pages for each condition you treat, covering symptoms, diagnosis, treatment options, and outcomes. This matches the patient query journey from symptom search to provider selection.
Optimize your content →3
Implement Healthcare Schema
Add MedicalOrganization, Physician, MedicalCondition, and Hospital schema markup to all relevant pages. Include credentials, specialties, accepted insurance, and location data.
4
Strengthen Provider Profiles
Ensure every provider has a detailed page with credentials, specializations, patient reviews, and appointment availability. AI models use provider depth as a quality signal.
5
Build Medical Authority Signals
Publish or link to peer-reviewed research, clinical guidelines, and outcomes data. Earn citations in medical publications and health media that AI models recognize as authoritative.
6
Monitor Competitive AI Positioning
Track how competing health systems appear for key conditions and services. Identify specialty gaps where your organization can differentiate in AI recommendations.
Track competitors →Quick-Reference Checklist
Audit AI recommendations for your health system across all major AI platforms
Create detailed condition and treatment content for each service line
Implement MedicalOrganization and Hospital schema markup
Build comprehensive provider directory pages with credentials and specialties
Publish patient education content matching symptom-to-treatment query patterns
Maintain updated insurance acceptance and pricing transparency information
Optimize Healthgrades, Vitals, and Google Business profiles
Build citations in medical journals and health media
Ensure provider credential and board certification data is structured and current
Monitor competitor AI visibility for key conditions and services
Create location-specific content for each facility and clinic
Track AI visibility scores monthly and adjust content strategy based on data
How We Score AI Visibility
Attensira scores are calculated by querying major AI platforms with real-world prompts relevant to each industry, then analyzing how prominently and accurately each brand appears in the responses. Scores range from 0 to 100.
Platform Coverage
How consistently a brand appears across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini.
Response Quality
Whether AI responses feature the brand with accurate, detailed information.
Citation Frequency
How often the brand is cited as a source or recommendation in AI outputs.
Brand Sentiment
The tone and framing AI platforms use when mentioning the brand.
Explore Health Care & Social Assistance Sub-Industries
Discover AI visibility solutions for specific sectors within health care & social assistance.
Ambulatory Health Care Services
Physicians' offices, dentists, outpatient care centers.
Coming soon
Hospitals
General medical, surgical, psychiatric, and specialty hospitals.
Coming soon
Nursing & Residential Care Facilities
Skilled nursing facilities, assisted living, and residential care.
Coming soon
Social Assistance
Child care, family services, vocational rehabilitation, and community services.
Coming soon
Related Industries
Professional, Scientific & Technical Services
AI visibility solutions for law firms, consultants, accountants, engineers, and other professional service firms. Get recommended when clients ask AI for expert providers.
Educational Services
AI visibility solutions for schools, universities, training providers, and ed-tech companies. Get recommended when students and learners ask AI for educational options.
Public Administration
AI visibility solutions for government agencies, municipalities, and public organizations. Ensure citizens find accurate information when asking AI about government services.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Ready to dominate AI search in Health Care & Social Assistance?
Let's discuss how Attensira can get your health care & social assistance brand recommended by AI.
Ready to take action? Get recommended by
ChatGPT
Now that you've seen the data, take the next step. Start tracking your health care & social assistance brand's AI visibility.