Loblaw launches AI-powered health chat tool
Loblaw Companies hopes to answer Canadians’ health questions with its new AI-powered tool, PC Chat.
Created for PC Health—Loblaw’s digital health platform and mobile app—Loblaw said the chat bot is informed by Canadian clinical guidelines and backed by an advisory board of Canadian medical professionals.
Canadians can use the tool to ask health questions—like, "Should I take a daily vitamin?" or "Is this something I should speak to a doctor about?"—and get plain-language information in real time.
Answers are designed to be relevant for users across every province and territory, “including underserved patient populations,” Loblaw said.
A more “personalized experience” is available when a user connects their PC Health or Shoppers Drug Mart digital pharmacy profile, giving the chat more context about their health history and informing responses.
“Canadians are asking health questions every day, but more information doesn't always bring more clarity,” said Lauren Steinberg, executive vice-president and chief digital officer, Loblaw Companies Ltd., in a press release. “We built PC Chat to give Canadians a place to find trusted information and a clear path to next steps.”
Loblaw said the tool isn’t intended to replace doctors, pharmacists, or other healthcare providers, but instead to provide Canadians with “more options” to “find the care they need and feel better-equipped for their healthcare appointments.”
“Pharmacists tailor patient conversations based on their clinical knowledge and that patient’s medication history,” said Nabil Chikh, senior vice-president, pharmacy, Shoppers Drug Mart. “PC Chat helps users navigate next steps based on the questions they ask, such as when to visit a healthcare provider, and deciding where to go, so they can come to healthcare conversations feeling even more prepared.”
PC Chat is currently available in most Canadian provinces. It will roll out in New Brunswick and Quebec this fall.
To celebrate the tool’s launch, PC Health is rolling out a new campaign called “Ask Away.” The platform will be brought to life through a public aerial drone experience over Toronto on Thursday night (Sept. 10), inspired by the health questions many Canadians find themselves asking late at night.
