Seven in 10 doctors say they’ve encountered patients influenced, either moderately or very, by misinformation, disinformation or both over the past year.
So finds a new survey, conducted by the nonprofit Physicians Foundation for its second report on the subject. The survey was conducted in March and reached over 1,000 physicians.
Those who said they’ve encountered patients influenced by misinformation/disinformation moderately or a lot was up from 61% in 2025, “indicating a growing prevalence of misinformation in clinical interactions,” per the report.
“Not only is misinformation still playing a role, a significant one, in our physicians’ interactions with their patients, but it’s becoming more of a problem and it’s actually affecting patients’ health and putting their health at risk,” Gary Price, M.D., president of the Physicians Foundation, told Fierce Healthcare.
Inaccurate information complicates physicians’ ability to provide care. Two-thirds of docs say misinformation/disinformation impacts their ability to provide quality care, up from 57% in 2025. And 43% have no confidence in their patients knowing how to access reliable, evidence-based health information online.
Inaccurate information also alters patient behavior. Patient anxiety is the most frequently cited consequence. But half of docs also frequently see treatment nonadherence tied to misinformation—nearly half see patients refuse recommended care, and a third report frequent breakdowns in patient-physician trust.
Social media, word of mouth and influencers were identified as the most common sources of patient misinformation/disinformation. The news media and search engines were also common sources, cited by over half of respondents. Commercial ads were cited as a common source by 43%. AI chatbots were less dominant, with a third reporting them as a common source. Less than a third identified government health agencies as a common source.
Price believes docs should learn how to communicate differently in the new age of social media. Establishing a credible presence online as a physician influencer could be one promising strategy. More broadly, docs should focus on establishing a trusted relationship and respecting patient concerns. This was one of the key lessons from COVID-19, per Price, as was “framing our messaging around what we know to be true and why, rather than around what is false.”
Social media is unsurprisingly a driver of falsehoods, given how easy it is to fall into echo chambers online, Price said. Adults who often use social media or AI tools for health information are more likely to believe false claims about vaccines, compared to those who have a trusted provider, according to KFF.
Additionally, while pharma ads are highly regulated for unfounded claims, supplements have no such oversight. There may be room for stricter policies overseeing commercial ads targeting patients. “I see this every day, … outrageous claims about the potential benefit of things that really haven’t been investigated at all,” Price said.
Physicians’ own sense of agency in dealing with misinformation/disinformation varied: 46% feel confident or very confident in identifying and correcting inaccuracies in appointments, down from 50% in 2025. But only 26% feel confident or very confident that they have the right tools to engage with patients who are skeptical about modern medicine or science, down from 37% in 2025.
The lack of strong confidence was even more pronounced when it comes to physicians' feeling they have enough time to engage with skeptical patients. A third feel they don't have the time, compared with only 13% who feel they don’t have the tools to do so. A fifth of docs also feel their practice lacks sufficient resources to educate patients about misinformation/disinformation.
Even if physicians feel generally confident identifying and correcting inaccuracies, Price noted, one should look to the country’s current immunization rates for a pulse check. Vaccination is a key indicator of how the U.S. is dealing with misinformation/disinformation, he believes, and by that metric, it’s not going well. Over 4% of parents got exemptions for routine vaccinations for their kindergarteners last year, the biggest jump in over a decade, per the CDC.
Surveyed independent physicians were more likely to feel they have enough time to engage with skeptical patients compared to others. They were also likely to be older. This could be because independent docs are under less pressure to see more patients, per Price, and because older docs—who are more likely to work independently—may know how to better budget their time.
Though a small share of U.S. adults confidently believe false or unproven health claims, KFF has found, with at least half being uncertain, “the problem is even a small percentage of patients in an area such as a public health issue … can make a huge difference,” Price said. “It can change the difference between an epidemic or no disease at all.”