Physicians still get real satisfaction from the patient side of the job, but two forces are testing that bond: the growing footprint of AI in care decisions and the rising cost of getting treated at all, according to a report from Medscape.
“The State of Patient Care: Medscape Patient Relationships Index Report 2026,” published July 7, surveyed more than 1,000 physicians who practice in the U.S.
Here are eight things to know from the report:
- Nearly 75% of physicians said they consider the emotional rewards of treating and interacting with patients to be high. Satisfaction levels vary by practice setting, with 82% of physicians in office or private practice settings reporting high emotional rewards compared with 67% of those working in hospitals.
- More than three-quarters of physicians said patients show them a high level of professional and personal respect, and that tends to climb with physician age — 84% of physicians 45 and older rated professional respect as high, compared with 72% of those younger than 45. But physicians said their staff, especially front-desk employees, don’t receive the same treatment; patient frustration over scheduling, wait times, medication availability and billing often lands on them instead.
- About 87% of physicians rated patients’ trust in their clinical judgment as high. Trust ran higher among physicians 45 and older (90%) than younger physicians (82%), and only 4% of physicians rated patient adherence to treatment recommendations as low.
- Physicians are betting the rewarding parts of patient care will hold up, as 76% of physicians expect treating and interacting with patients to stay rewarding or improve over the next five years.
- Despite that optimism, more physicians expect patient expectations to become less realistic than more realistic in the next five years; several physicians attributed the shift to information overload.
- Fulfillment from patient care has slipped for a meaningful share of physicians. Twenty-eight percent said it’s lower or substantially lower than three years ago, compared with 22% who said it’s increased.
- More physicians said AI and online health searches have hurt the physician-patient relationship than helped it, though about half said the tools haven’t changed the relationship either way.
- More than half of physicians said rising healthcare and insurance costs are hurting patient relationships, with 20% of physicians saying it has had a “substantially negative impact.”
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