Doctors report spike in misinformation from patients

Doctors say they have been seeing more misinformation from patients in recent years, but physicians are saying it’s a problem that’s getting worse.

Nearly two out of three doctors say that misinformation is affecting their ability to deliver care to their patients, according to a survey released this week by The Physicians Foundation. The survey found 65% of patients say misinformation is impeding their work in caring for patients, up from 57% a year ago.

Dr. Gary Price, president of The Physicians Foundation, tells Chief Healthcare Executive®, says misinformation is a growing problem that can’t be ignored.

“I think some people may have hoped that misinformation and its impact on our public's health was primarily a result of the crisis of COVID and hoped that it would ease as an issue,” Price says. “Unfortunately, that's definitely not what has happened.”

Almost half (49%) of doctors say patients aren’t following treatment plans due to misinformation, with 45% of doctors saying patients are outright refusing their recommendations.

“I think the thing physicians are most concerned about is that misinformation is changing patient behavior, and it's putting their health at risk,” Price says. “There's an overarching concern that perhaps the most consequential impact of health misinformation is the erosion of trust in the patient-physician relationship. And that, indirectly and directly, is going to affect not only their health, but their access to care.”

Growing friction

Nearly one in three doctors (34%) says misinformation is leading to breakdowns in trust in their relationships with their patients, and 31% say they are often experiencing increased conflict with patients during visits because of misinformation.

The survey finds doctors in rural areas are most likely to encounter misinformation, with 78% of rural physicians saying they are seeing a higher frequency of patients influenced by information, compared to 67% or urban doctors and 69% of suburban physicians.

Residents in rural areas are more likely to live in communities without a doctor, or have to drive a longer distance to reach a physician.

When asked if that could be a factor in patients becoming more susceptible to misinformation, Price says that’s something that can’t be ascertained by the data. But as he notes, the survey responses come from rural doctors.

“We got these responses from rural physicians who are seeing patients,” he says.

Impact of disinformation

The survey didn’t break down physician perspectives on disinformation. While misinformation refers to material or rumors that are inaccurate, disinformation involves intentionally misleading others toward some type of gain.

But Price says he thinks doctors are definitely seeing more patients influenced by disinformation.

He also sees misinformation as playing a role in the measles outbreaks around the country, with cases reaching a 35-year high.

“From my standpoint as a recently practicing physician, I think it's completely tied to that,” Price says. “We know that vaccination rates have dropped at the same time all this misinformation has occurred.”

Public health leaders have criticized President Trump’s administration, and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., for repeating debunked claims tying vaccines to autism, and reducing the number of recommended shots in the childhood vaccine schedule. Medical groups opposed Trump’s executive order on changing the vaccine schedule, and are urging Americans to follow guidance from doctors.

Price says the changes of vaccine policy and false statements on vaccines are having a significant effect.

“There were vaccine doubters and vaccine hesitancy, of course, before this administration,” Price says. “But I think the current availability of social media and just the widespread availability and use of it has enabled those sorts of ideas to gain a stronger foothold and confuse people.”

Price cautions that the medical community has to focus on restoring trust, and respecting people’s individual opinions.

“Frankly, I think we can do a better job of communicating, both as physicians and as a scientific community,” Price says. “So I think the onus is on us to adapt to this new world of social media and continue to try to do the best we can in partnership with our patients in making decisions about their health.”

• Read more: Looking at the measles outbreak in Lancaster County, Pa.

Lacking time and tools

Many doctors say that they don’t have the training and tools to deal with misinformation. Nearly three quarters (74%) of doctors surveyed say they aren’t confident in their ability to deal with patients who are skeptical of medicine.

Price also says he’s troubled by the finding that more than a third of doctors (34%) say that they don’t have the time in appointments with patients to address their skepticism or concerns.

“Physicians, particularly employed physicians, who have very rapidly become the majority of physicians in the United States recently, they are feeling a real crunch in time in that they generally feel like they're being asked to see more patients with less time,” Price says. “And it's a source of frustration and burnout for them, and it's happening to independent physicians as well.”

“But this added burden of having to deal with misinformation as part of that encounter in the exam room is something else that's threatening the amount of time that can be spent on that visit on, the actual core medical issues in their treatment,” he adds.

Dr. Geeta Nayyar, the author of the book, “Dead Wrong: Diagnosing and Treating Healthcare's Misinformation Illness,” says misinformation is taking a toll, and it’s hurting both providers and patients.

In a June 2026 interview with Chief Healthcare Executive®, she said health systems need to evaluate the impact of misinformation, including the financial costs.

“There seems to be an understanding in today's environment that mis- and disinformation are contributing to delayed care, patients not coming in for appointments, patients skipping the vaccine, skipping the mammogram, taking the supplement for just $9.99 from Dr. TikTok as the alternative. So, I think we have to acknowledge it,” Nayyar said.

Health systems: Focus on access

When asked what health systems can do to help doctors deal with more misinformation from patients, Price pointed to the need to improve access.

“In very practical ways, in this time of limited physician availability, we all need to be working on how can we make it easier for patients to get in to see a clinician,” Price says. “There are a number of barriers to that right now, because quite frankly, our healthcare system is overburdened, and we don't have enough primary care physicians to take care of our country's needs. We've got to address that.”

Price points to reducing barriers for patients to get appointments, but also to give physicians the ability to focus on the patients.

He pointed out making his own headings in making an appointment to see a doctor, filling out forms online, and then filling them out again at the physician’s office because they couldn’t be found in the system.

“We need to look at ways we can make patient encounters with physicians and other clinicians more efficient, so time can really be devoted to conversations that matter, whether that be the pros and cons of vaccination, or other factors that are critically important for that particular patient at that particular time,” Price says.

“There are just so many opportunities for us to make things better,” he adds. “It's a difficult problem. Our system's overburdened, it's cracking in places, and it's hard to figure out what's a priority when you're not getting patients to where they need to be when they need to be.”