MUHC using AI to optimize chemotherapy treatments

The new McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) super-hospital in Montreal, on November 7, 2014. (THE CANADIAN PRESS / Ryan Remiorz)

Starting in January, the McGill University Health Centre will use artificial intelligence to optimize the organization of its chemotherapy treatments.

AI will be used to plan treatment schedules, a task that previously required almost two full-time staff members, explained MUHC Director of Nursing Alain Biron.

“We have 100 patients a day who come to the McGill University Health Centre for chemotherapy treatment. We have 52 treatment chairs and about 20 nurses,” he said. “So it’s extremely complex to make these schedules, because some treatments last two hours, three hours, four hours... It’s a puzzle, and we have to put all the pieces together to minimize wasted time.”

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The GrayOS platform will analyze patient needs, treatment duration, medication preparation times, and the availability of chairs and nurses “to ensure smoother daily operations and balance staff workloads,” according to a press release.

The project will run from January to December 2026. Ultimately, the platform is expected to be able to automatically schedule and adjust patient appointments at each stage of chemotherapy treatment, adapting in real time to last-minute changes or cancellations.

“With the new solution, we literally press a button and the schedule is made for us,” said Biron.

But the benefits go beyond the time saved by those responsible for building schedules, he added.

Depending on the type of cancer, Biron explained, patients must be treated within a “clinically acceptable” time frame. Artificial intelligence should make it possible to “better meet these deadlines and also better balance the workload for our nurses, because they will have a better distribution of work.”

Thus, if a patient is unable to receive treatment at the scheduled time for any reason, “we will be able to modify the schedule live, in real time, to optimize it.”

Looking at the statistics for the last seven years, Biron concluded, the number of patients to be treated is increasing every year, “but I don’t have any more nurses, so we really need to innovate to do better.”

- by Jean-Benoit Legault

- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French Nov. 21, 2025.