Last time we asked if your site even shows up in AI search. This time: what happens if it does and you’re not ready?

ChatGPT’s Agent Mode launched on 17 July, and people are already using it to:

  • Find clinics and book appointments

  • Research health products

  • Compare services

  • Make decisions without ever touching a search engine

We’ve been testing it across a range of real-world patient journeys - including my own. The results weren’t perfect, but the implications were clear: search isn’t a journey anymore. It’s a delegation.

The search journey is collapsing

I asked:

“Find a dermatologist in central London for a second opinion on a mole next week.”

Agent Mode:

  • Opened browser tabs in real time

  • Navigated multiple clinic sites

  • Extracted addresses, services, prices, booking flows

  • Summarised and ranked options based on my preferences

  • Returned it all in a clean, readable summary - in under 3 minutes

In some cases, it asked follow-up questions to clarify timeline, budget, and location.

This wasn’t a list of links. It was task delegation. No browsing, no comparing - just choosing.

That’s the shift. The old “search → browse → compare → decide” model is being replaced by:

  • Contextual prompts

  • Conversational UX

  • Goal-oriented results

What patients now expect

It’s easy to see this as just another AI feature. But what it really signals is a shift in expectations.

As AI becomes more embedded in everyday tools - from shopping to scheduling - patients will likely expect the same seamless experience from their healthcare journey.

They won’t want to:

  • Open ten tabs

  • Read long service pages

  • Fill out clunky booking forms

They’ll want:

  • Fast, relevant answers

It’s not just the experience that’s changing - it’s the threshold for trust. Patients are starting to trust an AI recommendation over their own research.

  • Clear pricing and availability

  • Smart recommendations that remove friction

They’re not comparing you to the clinic down the road. They’re comparing you to Amazon.

How healthcare brands should respond

This isn’t about abandoning creativity. But it is about understanding how patients make decisions now - and what role your digital presence plays.

If your site can’t be crawled, parsed, or interpreted, AI assistants will fall back on aggregators like Doctify, Semble, Treatwell, and Trustpilot - platforms that offer structure, filters, and familiarity.

So the priority isn’t just looking good. It’s being useful, crawlable, and confidently surfaced at the right moment.

You don’t need a checklist. You need a mindset shift:

  • From storytelling → to utility

  • From flair → to function

  • From ranking → to recommendation

Because if you’re not on the shortlist, you don’t exist.

Booking test: where the handover breaks

One of our most interesting experiments involved pushing Agent Mode all the way to the end of the journey: booking an appointment.

It got close. Very close. It:

  • Investigated slots

  • Compared clinics

  • Selected an appointment

  • Entered patient details

  • Prompted a browser handover to finalise

But when it attempted to confirm the booking, it hit a limit:

“The booking tool was just disabled on my end, so I can’t finalise the appointment for you directly.”

The user still needed to click ‘Confirm’ manually.

It’s not quite end-to-end autonomy. Yet. But we’re clearly one UI change and a privacy toggle away.

Where this could go next

Let’s not overhype it - Agent Mode isn’t perfect.

In some cases, it pulled in dollar pricing or recommended US clinics. It was slow (2–3 minutes per task). And it’s still early days.

But remember the first version of ChatGPT? We all laughed at some of its outputs. Then we started using it for everything.

This is the same pattern.

Soon, your AI assistant won’t just respond to your mole enquiry - it’ll nudge you before you even notice the mole. It’ll know your skin check is due, suggest a clinic, compare availability, and drop the appointment in your calendar.

And yes, that’s a bit terrifying. But it’s also inevitable - like your parents joining TikTok or your fridge knowing your BMI.

This isn’t just a shift in tools. It’s a shift in behaviour. And most healthcare brands aren’t ready for it.

Want to know how ready your site is?

At Medico, we’ve been testing Agent Mode across hundreds of real-world patient journeys and auditing how brands show up.

We can tell you:

  • Whether your site is being surfaced - or ignored

  • What patients see when they ask

  • How you stack up against competitors in the AI interface

Let’s find out if your brand is ready for what’s next - or at risk of being left out.