HealthTap adds artificial intelligence to its triage app

Digital health platform provider HealthTap is betting its new Dr. A.I. mobile app will eliminate the risk of a patient incorrectly self-diagnosing their condition through online searches by providing accurate, online triage that directs patients to the right level of care. The app, which uses artificial intelligence to perform online triage based on a patient's symptoms, can help reduce the risk of a patient incorrectly self-diagnosing her symptoms, which happens frequently with Internet searches, HealthTap says. There are 10 billion symptom-related health searches per year on Google, says HealthTap CEO Ron Gutman. "Search engines can't consult a patient's health records or ask follow-up questions to put a person's symptoms into proper context," Gutman says. "Effective triage requires detailed knowledge of a patient's personal health situation, making context critical to providing optimal care."