February 6, 2026
The Patient Assumptions Health Systems Can’t Rely on Anymore
For decades, many health systems operated with a foundational assumption: Patients would follow clinical guidance, choose care based on proximity and accept a hospital or physician’s recommendations largely without questions.
That reality is gone.
Today’s patients are more informed, more skeptical and more digitally empowered. They are far more likely to evaluate care the way they evaluate almost everything else in their lives – by searching, comparing, listening to peers, and prioritizing experience and trust.
As Devika Mathrani, chief marketing and communications officer of New York City-based NewYork Presbyterian, told Becker’s, “That reality no longer exists – there is much more trust-but-verify.”
Across the industry, that shift is forcing marketing leaders to rethink not only messaging and channels but also the very role marketing plays in shaping the consumer experience.
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