Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai has created a generative artificial intelligence app, CS Connect, that can interact with patients and ask them questions, the Los Angeles Business Journal reported April 29.
"The AI behind the app is a chatbot, like ChatGPT," Jason Moore, PhD, chair of Cedars-Sinai's Department of Computational Biomedicine, told the news outlet. "What it does is interact with the patient, asks them questions. The patient answers the questions about what symptoms they're having, what health issue they're having, and the chatbot understands what the patient's saying and can then help the patient schedule an appointment here at Cedars-Sinai to see a doctor."
Dr. Moore said the app also aids hospital physicians by analyzing patient communications, producing summaries and offering potential diagnoses.
"So when the doctor meets with the patient, they've already read the summary," Mr. Moore said. “They've already read the potential diagnoses, and they're not starting from ground zero, so they can have a much more informed encounter with the patient and get to the problem much more quickly."
Dr. Moore said artificial intelligence technology is proliferating quickly.
"Every major academic medical center in the country is busy developing, evaluating and implementing AI for the clinic," he said. "Every single one."