Real Chemistry, May 14, 2026 

We went to SEO Week and one thing was clear: the conversation around GEO is maturing fast. The focus has moved beyond surface-level tactics and into how AI systems interpret, connect and surface information across fragmented healthcare ecosystems. The themes we heard mirror what we’re seeing with pharma teams right now, from questions around cross-functional ownership to the reality that measurement is still evolving. Our latest blog breaks down the biggest shifts from the week and where the real opportunities are as GEO continues to take shape.

Fierce Healthcare, April 23, 2026 

OpenAI is now offering a dedicated version of ChatGPT free to verified U.S. clinicians, formalizing what has quietly been happening for months. According to the American Medical Association, 72% of physicians already report using AI in clinical practice, and OpenAI is betting that frontline adoption will move faster than institutional approval. Whether health systems are ready or not, doctors are already building AI into how they research, document and make decisions.

Digiday, April 10, 2026 

Pfizer built an internal GEO team in 60 days, a dedicated function stood up from scratch by two leaders who saw the opportunity coming and moved while most other pharma companies were still figuring out where GEO sits on their priority list. When the VP of Performance Media posted about it on LinkedIn, it generated some serious buzz because the move signaled something the industry already knew but hadn’t quite acted on: GEO isn’t a bolt-on to your SEO program. It cuts across content, medical affairs, PR, and brand strategy, which means it needs to live close to the people making decisions in all of those places.  

Pfizer may be the loudest voice in pharma on this, but they’re not outliers. Georgia Pacific, U.S. Bank, Adobe, and Boots have all made similar moves, a signal that across regulated and consumer industries alike, GEO is being treated as a core business capability worth building.

Mount Sinai Health System, March 31, 2026

OpenEvidence launched AI medical coding on March 26th, then added prior authorization and prescription routing via a partnership with Tandem days later. The platform is used daily by more than 40% of U.S. physicians and has moved from clinical reference tool to full workflow layer in under a month. Mount Sinai just embedded it directly into Epic, extending access beyond physicians to nurses and pharmacists for the first time. The window to get your content right inside this platform is now, while it’s still building. While the infrastructure is still developing, there’s a near-term opportunity to get your content in place before others catch up.

CNET, January 29, 2026 

Google is exploring controls that would let publishers opt out of AI Overviews without losing traditional search placement. No firm timeline, but the direction is clear, and up to 79% of major news publishers are already blocking AI training bots. (BuzzStream) 

The implication for pharma PR is worth sitting with: the outlets your team has spent years building relationships with may soon be invisible to the models shaping what patients and HCPs find. A placement in a high-reach outlet that opts out still builds human awareness and drives amplification. It just stops doing GEO work entirely. The question is whether your earned media strategy knows the difference, and whether you’re placing coverage with both jobs in mind.

What this means for you 

• AI is starting to show up inside real clinical workflows. 
  Tools like ChatGPT for Clinicians and OpenEvidence are moving beyond reference into things like prior auth and prescribing. That changes where decisions are shaped, and where your brand needs to show up.
• GEO is becoming important enough to stand up on its own. 
  Pfizer moving quickly to build a dedicated team is a first-mover signal. This is no longer something to tack onto SEO or PR. It’s starting to be treated as a core capability.
• Not all earned media will carry the same weight going forward. 
  With Google exploring ways for publishers to opt out of AI Overviews, some outlets may continue to drive awareness but stop showing up in AI-generated results. That changes how coverage performs and how it should be planned.

Your Questions, Answered 

We want The HealthGEO Pulse to be a two-way conversation. Send us your GEO questions, and we’ll tackle the best ones each month. 

Q: Does this mean we need to throw out our existing SEO strategy? 

Not at all. Strong SEO fundamentals, technical site health, quality content and domain authority still matter. GEO builds on top of that foundation. The shift is less about replacing what works and more about adding a layer: structuring your content so that AI systems can understand it, trust it and cite it. Think of it as SEO with an audience of one added, the model. 

The HealthGEO Pulse is published monthly for pharmaceutical and healthcare professionals navigating the AI search landscape. Questions, feedback or topics you want covered? Reply directly to this email.

 

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