Researchers investigating health tech solutions
"With the advent of AI, I saw how it might be useful to help make hospitals run more smoothly,” says Toor.
It’s no secret that Manitoba is coping with surgical backlogs, with over 1,300 people facing a median wait time of 170 days for orthopedic surgery. Long waits and cancelled surgeries have become common for Manitobans and frustrating for the healthcare professionals who are committed to helping them.
With new funding from a Research Manitoba Solutions Grant, Toor is looking at how AI can be used to help reduce wait times at Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre.
Toor was recruited to Winnipeg in 2023 and has already made his mark on Manitoba healthcare in at least two ways.
First, in 2025, he introduced an innovative navigated instrument spine surgery equipment that helped establish Concordia Hospital into a centre of excellence for spinal surgery.
Now, Toor is exploring how waitlist backlogs can be addressed using AI and large language models to create efficiencies in scheduling.
He is drawing on earlier research he did from his time at the University of Toronto to establish new technology called The Operating Room Intelligence and Optimization Network (ORION).
The research team are looking at how AI can be used to help forecast surgical needs. The original AI-powered scheduling system, pilot tested at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, showed promise that they aim to expand on for the Manitoba context.
Toor will test ORION at the Health Sciences Centre — the central hub for healthcare in Manitoba. In the first year, the team will use it to analyze 10 years of historical patient data from HSC. This will determine how accurately the AI model would have predicted past surgical demand. In the second year they will focus on prospective testing at HSC.
The team predicts there will be a 5-8% increase to orthopedic surgical capacity resulting in a 10-15% reduction in wait times. They expect more efficient scheduling could translate to annual savings of $2-4 million.
According to Toor, "ORION will not only reduce wait times for patients, but will help hospital administrators better plan for staffing, reduce burn out and allow hospitals to optimize their limited resources."
Toor is bringing together experts from across disciplines to tackle this problem. The team includes colleagues Dr. Edward Buchel of the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences and Dr. Aazad Abbas, from Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto, along with Dr. Pierre Gautreau, assistant professor of supply chain management in the Asper School of Business.
"Operating room resource coordination is a multi-dimensional problem with many physical constraints that can be modelled mathematically. However, less salient human factors must also be considered when implementing technological solutions,” says Gautreau.
This industry-leading predictive scheduling technology research could help put Manitoba on the map as a leader in global healthcare innovation.
For nearly 150 years, UM has transformed lives through groundbreaking research and homegrown innovation. We push the boundaries of knowledge and do the hard work here in Manitoba to move our community and the world forward. With a spirit of determination and discovery, we are shaping a better future for our province and beyond.
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