Geeta Nayyar: Healthcare industry needs to take charge in refuting misinformation

In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Geeta Nayyar, MD, MBA, found herself captivated by the misinformation — and disinformation — spewed across social media. People were falling prey to lies, conspiracy theories and snake-oil hucksters, and in some cases, the bad advice killed them.

The environment reminded her of another deadly misinformation crisis when she was in medical training.

“It was so reminiscent of HIV/AIDS,” she said, noting that misinformation has been a factor in epidemics dating back as far as the Black Plague. “We keep accepting this as just the world that we operate in, and it’s time to not accept it anymore,” she added.

Her new book, Dead wrong: Diagnosing and treating healthcare’s misinformation illness, makes the case that health systems and hospital leaders must tackle the problem head-on.

Just ahead of her appearance as one of the keynote speakers at the HFMA Annual Conference from June 24-27 in Las Vegas, the former chief medical officer for companies like Salesforce and AT&T suggested ways the healthcare industry can improve.

Q: Why do people adopt unorthodox prevention strategies — the idea that gargling with saltwater will protect you from COVID — and outlandish cures like ivermectin?

Geeta Nayyar: Nobody gets up in the morning and says, “How can I be the fool today?” No one is seeking ways not to be healthy. When people are buying a supplement or following an influencer, they believe that they are doing the right thing.

So the No. 1 thing that we have to do in healthcare is to gain the trust of that audience. Marketers know that if any of us are going to do business with a company, first of all, we have to recognize it as a company we know. Then we ask ourselves: “Do I like that brand and what it stands for?” And … do I trust them — when I have a problem; do I trust that they are going to show up for me to the best of their ability?

If you look at healthcare, we don’t do any of that. Many healthcare organizations still don’t have a digital footprint and many doctors don’t have a social media profile because, if they are not reimbursed for it, they don’t have time for it.

Likability is relative. I often get asked, “Dr. G, do you know a female cardiologist?” or “Do you know a female pediatrician?” That’s because we assume that, if you look like me or talk like me, we will probably have something in common and I’ll probably like you. Minorities want to see minorities, women want to see women, men want to see men. We have to lean into that.

On the whole concept of trust, healthcare has made missteps, whether it’s the Tuskegee Experiment or the treatment of Henrietta Lacks, so we have known reasons for communities not to trust us. Being transparent about those is important, but trust also means being reachable. In some parts of the country, it can take six to nine months to get an appointment. So if I have a problem and I can’t even get in touch with you, how am I supposed to trust you?

Q: You say that the belief that healthcare providers should not be responsible for correcting misinformation is a myth. But don’t providers have enough on their plate?

Nayyar: When I speak to audiences around the country, I ask the question “Who is in charge of your misinformation and disinformation strategy?” Inevitably, no one raises their hand. But when I ask “Who is in charge of patient experience, consumer experience, brand loyalty, patient acquisition or retention?” a million hands go up. That’s our biggest miss. We haven’t even realized that combating misinformation is part of our strategy. We have to realize that this is a team effort that includes marketing, patient education, brand loyalty, technology — texting, portals, social media, the way everyone is now engaging. And it includes the clinical piece, trying to drive patients to do something for their health, whether that is making an appointment, getting a mammogram or just being informed and knowing who to follow and trust. That’s the call to action in my book. … “Hey, it’s time for healthcare to wake up and realize this is our issue and it is a team sport.”

Q: What role do healthcare financial executives play in the fight against misinformation?

Nayyar: This is one of the best issues for a CFO to take on because it is not only the right thing to do, but it improves the bottom line. How do you get patients to be loyal to your organization as opposed to someone they heard about online? The way you do that is by becoming the brand that consumers trust, that consumers follow and that consumers spend their money with because they trust you so much, they are not going to go anywhere else. If you miss that opportunity, if the healthcare consumer is not coming to you because they are following John Doe on TikTok, they don’t protect their health and they get cancer. Or they get an infection or some other problem. Who has to clean up that mess? At the end of every misinformation and disinformation train is a doctor cleaning up the mess in an emergency room. So for anyone trying to do value-based care, this is their issue. Value-based care is essentially all about prevention. And prevention is all about education. And people are reading; they are looking for sources to trust.