HIMSCast: Fighting back against healthcare disinformation in the age of social media and genAI

Dr. Geeta Nayyar—known to many as “Dr. G”—has a long history as a physician IT leader who thinks creatively about the intersection of technology and healthcare. Her roles over the years include serving as Chief Medical Officer of tech giants AT&T and Salesforce and AT&T. She serves on the board of the American Telemedicine Association. She is an advisor to the American Medical Association. You may have seen her on stage this past March as the host and master of ceremonies for HIMSS24.

She is also an author. Nayyar’s most recent USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestseller book, Dead wrong: Diagnosing and treating the disease of healthcare misinformationexamines the major risks to personal and public health associated with digitally distributed mis- and disinformation.

Of course, the harmful effects of inaccurate medical information became most apparent during the years-long COVID-19 crisis. But they have been a major challenge for a long time and remain so to this day. In some ways, the challenge is only becoming more treacherous as online social media evolves and the unhealthy side effects of technology—misinformed “influencers” on TikTok or Instagram, hallucinatory generative AI chatbots, lie-spewing deep fakes—multiply.

Later this summer, Nayyar will deliver the opening speech of the HIMSS AI in Healthcare Forumwhich starts on September 5 in Boston. We recently spoke with her about misinformation in healthcare, how AI is making the problem worse, and what conscientious professionals can do to counter it by ensuring their patients are educated and equipped with the information that can keep them healthy.

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Discussion points:

• Why Completely wrong needed to be written, and why now was the time to write it

• The public health implications – now and in the future – of rampant disinformation

• How Technology Contributes to the Problem

• How it can help improve it

• What is the importance of an informed public debate, in health policy and beyond?

• What a new era of toxic social media, genAI, deep fakes, etc. means for disinformation.

• How the healthcare industry can combat inaccurate or harmful information

More about this episode:

Consumers are becoming more savvy with technology – healthcare needs to perform better
Cloud-based AI services can help combat health misinformation
UC Irvine’s AI-powered conversational health agent is ready for developers
Generative AI ‘not yet reliable,’ says Mayo Clinic’s John Halamka
A loophole in the FDA’s medical devices could cause patient harm, research warns
Advisory: WHO’s unhealthy approach to artificial intelligence
AI and public health – a great opportunity
CareSource uses mobile tools to combat COVID-19 misinformation and get shots in arms
Misinformation, mistrust and language barriers hinder equality in health care
NHS joins forces with tech companies to stop spread of COVID-19 misinformation

The HIMSS AI in Healthcare Forum will take place September 5-6 in Boston. More information and registration.