AI Case Study

"After acquiring a local startup that has developed an artificial intelligence system for medical triage, Montreal-based telemedicine company Dialogue is now preparing to use that technology in one of the city’s largest hospital networks.

Starting in a few weeks, Dialogue’s artificial intelligence triage program will start being used at the CHUM emergency room as part of pilot project.

Either online of via the app, the patient interacts with a chat-based AI-driven triage system, answering a series of questions designed to identify red flags and signs of serious conditions, said Cherif Habib, Dialogue’s co-founder and CEO.

The system also gives the patient a score on the Canadian Triage Acuity Scale, which is widely used in emergency departments. That scale ranks the seriousness of a patient’s condition from 5: Non-urgent to 1: See patient immediately.

The system can then put the patient into a video chat with a nurse, nurse practitioner or physician depending on their condition. At times, Habib said, the system has identified more serious conditions and in one case, Dialogue has called an ambulance to a patient’s home.