Wolters Kluwer Survey Finds Broad Presence Of Unsanctioned AI Tools In Hospitals And Health Systems
A new survey from Wolters Kluwer Health of healthcare professionals and administrators reveals a growing trend: unauthorized AI tools and apps, known as “shadow AI,” are currently being used across hospitals and health systems in the U.S., including for direct patient care. This could raise concerns about patient safety, data privacy, and regulatory compliance. According to the survey, 40% of respondents have encountered an unauthorized AI tool in their organizations, and nearly 20% have used them.
“Doctors and administrators are choosing AI tools for speed and workflow optimization, and when approved options aren’t available, they may be taking risks,” said Yaw Fellin, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Clinical Decision Support and Provider Solutions, Wolters Kluwer Health. “Shadow AI isn’t just a technical issue; it’s a governance issue that may raise patient safety concerns. Leaders must act now to close the policy gap around AI use, develop clear compliance guidelines, and ensure that only validated, secure, enterprise-ready AI tools are used in clinical care.”
Key healthcare shadow AI survey findings:
- Shadow AI is widespread in health systems: Forty percent of healthcare professionals have encountered unauthorized AI tools in the workplace, and nearly 20 percent admit to using them. The top reasons? Half of respondents point to a need for faster workflows. For providers, curiosity and experimentation ranked slightly higher than “better functionality.” One in 10 said they had used an unauthorized AI tool for a direct patient care use case.
- Gaps in policy development and awareness: Administrators are three times more likely to be actively involved in healthcare AI policy development than providers (30% vs. 9%), suggesting policy ownership is more centralized within hospital administrative roles. When it comes to awareness however, 29 percent of providers are aware of the main policies versus 17 percent of administrators.
- A majority of healthcare professionals use AI tools and believe AI will have a positive impact on healthcare: More than half of healthcare professionals frequently use AI tools or rely on AI tools for their work. Healthcare professionals express strong optimism about AI’s impact on healthcare, with nearly 90 percent agreeing or strongly agreeing that AI will significantly improve healthcare within the next five years. The top use for AI for both providers (60%) and administrators (78%) was data analysis indicating deep integration into workflow.
- Patient safety is a top concern: Both providers (25%) and administrators (26%) rank patient safety as their top concern around AI in healthcare. Among administrators, patient safety is the top overall concern, followed by concerns about privacy and data breaches. Providers rank inaccurate outputs as their second biggest concern, with administrators ranking privacy second.
- Health data security is also a worry: Nearly a quarter (23%) of healthcare professionals express concern about privacy and security risks associated with AI in healthcare, highlighting fears of healthcare data breaches, unauthorized access, and the need for robust protection measures.
The shadow AI survey findings echoed the perspective of Scott Simeone, SVP and Chief Information Officer at Tufts Medicine:
“GenAI is showing high potential for creating value in healthcare but scaling it depends less on the technology and more on the maturity of organizational governance. While progress has been made in governance, there is still work to be done to evolve tools for control and monitoring, so they scale for clinical contexts. As clinical use grows, health systems need enterprise‑grade controls, transparency, and literacy—so clinicians and patients understand when AI is supporting decisions, how it works, and where human judgment remains essential.”
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