Weave's 2026 Pulse Survey Finds Healthcare Practices Are Ready for AI, but 60% Are Still Concerned About Data Privacy

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63% of survey respondents spend an hour or more a day on manual data entry, and 39% say automation reduced no-shows and cancellations

LEHI, Utah--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Weave (NYSE: WEAV), a leading AI-powered patient engagement and payments platform purpose-built for healthcare practices, today released its 2026 State of Healthcare Pulse Survey, a survey of 285 owners, office managers, and front desk staff across dental, specialty medical, optometry, and veterinary practices. The findings point to a clear consensus: manual administrative work in disconnected systems is the biggest drag on healthcare practices, and interest in AI is high

"Practitioners can name exactly what's slowing them down, and it isn't a mystery — it's manual work moving between systems that don't talk to each other," said Marcus Bertilson, COO and Head of Product at Weave. "Don't mistake their caution about AI for reluctance. It's a rational response to a market that hasn't yet earned their trust with patient data. The opportunity belongs to whoever earns it."

The Administrative Bottleneck Hurting Healthcare Practices

Asked what costs them time, practices answered without hesitation: Eighty percent of respondents said duplicate data entry impacts their workflow, and for nearly half (47%), that impact is moderate or significant. The time adds up: 63% spend an hour or more each day on manual data entry, and roughly a third (32%) spend two hours or more — the equivalent of weeks of staff time each year that never touches a patient.

The tasks practices most want to automate cluster tightly around the front desk: appointment scheduling and confirmations (49%), insurance verification (46%), patient intake and forms (42%), and billing and payment reminders (41%).

Underneath it all sits an architecture problem. Seventy percent of practices are not running an integrated software stack, which means the same patient detail is often re-keyed across multiple disconnected systems.

Why Practices Can't Hire Their Way Out

The labor market is compounding the pressure. Sixty-four percent of practices experienced staffing shortages in the past 12 months, and 48% are dealing with them right now. For nearly a quarter of respondents (24%), those shortages are severe enough to force reduced patient or appointment volume.

With hiring slow, practices are turning to technology to extend their existing teams. Among those who automated workflows in 2025, 41% cited improved team productivity and efficiency, and 29% reported reduced staff workload and burnout.

Desire for Implementation & Real Results from Automation

Interest in AI is real and growing. Roughly 41% of practices have already adopted some AI workflows or say AI is transforming their operations, and another 33% have considered AI tools but haven’t committed yet. What’s holding some respondents at the threshold isn't skepticism about the payoff — it's patient data. HIPAA and data privacy concerns top the list of risk factors at 60%, followed by concern about AI producing low-quality work (51%) and regulatory uncertainty (35%).

The survey makes it clear that technology delivers quantifiable benefits to healthcare offices. Of the respondents who operationalized automation in 2025, 61% report improved patient communications and responsiveness, 41% report improved team productivity and efficiency, and 39% say automation reduced no-shows and last-minute cancellations.

To read the survey in full, visit: https://www.getweave.com/2026-healthcare-pulse-survey/

About Weave

Weave is a leading vertical SaaS company delivering an AI-powered patient engagement and payments platform purpose-built for modern healthcare practices. More than software, Weave is an always-on teammate—handling patient interactions across voice and text and operating at the center of the patient journey. Through agentic AI workflows and authorized integrations with practice management systems, Weave ensures critical tasks like scheduling, insurance verification, and payments happen seamlessly, so nothing falls between the cracks. By embedding AI directly into daily operations, Weave reduces administrative workload, frees up staff to focus on human-centered care, and delivers real-time insights that help practices run smarter and grow with confidence. Serving over 40,000 customer locations, Weave was named a 2026 Best Software Awards winner for healthcare software products by G2. To learn more, visit getweave.com/newsroom.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260820214078/en/

Chelsea Kilpack
Internal Communications & PR Manager, Weave
pr@getweave.com

Source: Weave