  Applying state-of-the-art machine learning and natural language processing on
approximately one million of teleconsultation records, we developed a triage
system, now certified and in use at the largest European telemedicine provider.
The system evaluates care alternatives through interactions with patients via a
mobile application. Reasoning on an initial set of provided symptoms, the
triage application generates AI-powered, personalized questions to better
characterize the problem and recommends the most appropriate point of care and
time frame for a consultation. The underlying technology was developed to meet
the needs for performance, transparency, user acceptance and ease of use,
central aspects to the adoption of AI-based decision support systems. Providing
such remote guidance at the beginning of the chain of care has significant
potential for improving cost efficiency, patient experience and outcomes. Being
remote, always available and highly scalable, this service is fundamental in
high demand situations, such as the current COVID-19 outbreak.
