SALT LAKE CITY, June 02, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) —
INTERMOUNTAIN NEWS RELEASE
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Available upon request
For Release:
June 2, 2026
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Jess Gomez: [email protected] / 801-718-8495
Intermountain Health Research Study Finds AI Technology is a ‘Game Changer’ for the Treatment of Two of the Most Common Chronic Pulmonary Conditions in the World
SALT LAKE CITY — A groundbreaking new study by researchers at Intermountain Health and CareCentra finds that implementing new AI technology to streamline and enhance care for two of the most common chronic pulmonary conditions in the world – including one that affects 1 of every 13 adults in the United States – resulted in a 50 percent drop in hospitalizations, 20 percent fewer emergency department visits, and a 57% reduction in overall costs.
Intermountain researchers say the study is a “game changer” for the care of the millions of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma, two of the most common chronic respiratory conditions in the world that cost more than $50 billion to treat per year in the United States – much of it spent on hospitalizations that could be prevented.
Researchers say the most concerning moments for doctors treating patients with chronic lung disease are not hospitalizations. It’s the silence between patient visits – weeks or months in which risk accumulates invisibly, unmonitored, until the next crisis arrives.
Researchers from Intermountain Health and CareCentra set out to end that silence utilizing AI technology to help monitor patients between visits and improve care for patients with COPD and asthma.
In the two-year study, researchers found that continuous, AI-driven monitoring of patients resulted in reduced total cost of care for patients by 57 percent, hospitalizations by 50 percent, and emergency department visits by 20 percent.
“The clinical results of the iCARE study are game-changing,” said Peter Crossno, MD, principal investigator, and senior medical director of respiratory care at Intermountain Health. “This technology and process enhancement allows us to move from reactive care to proactive care for these patients.”
“We demonstrated that it is possible to gather signals of patient risk continuously between clinic visits, shape their response behaviors through personalized nudges, and intervene, when necessary, through escalations to our pulmonary disease navigators – all in one composite solution,” he added.
Results of the Intermountain COPD and Adult Asthma Remote Evaluation (iCARE) study were recently presented by Intermountain Health researchers at the American Thoracic Society 2026 International Conference in Orlando, Florida.
The iCare study documented 1,200 patients at five Intermountain Health hospitals in Utah over a two-year period to observe what happens when a health system is proactive and intervenes to prevent patients from deteriorating and supports patients at home – helping them learn to better manage their health, but also, watching for the signals that precede their deterioration.
Researchers say the answer is clear: continuous connected care works, especially as the United States spends nearly $50 billion a year managing patients with COPD and asthma – much of it spent on hospitalizations that could be prevented.
Researchers note the central problem is structural: medicine has been organized around discrete episodes of care, leaving many patients unmonitored and unsupported during the extended intervals between physician visits.
“For patients with chronic lung disease, that gap is where exacerbations occur,” said Dr. Crossno. “The iCARE study was designed to close that gap.”
The iCARE study began in March 2024 at five Intermountain Health hospitals in Utah – Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah; Intermountain St. George Regional Medical Center; Intermountain Utah Valley Hospital in Provo, Utah; Intermountain LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City; and Intermountain McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden, Utah.
Researchers enrolled more than 1,200 patients with COPD, adult asthma, or asthma-COPD overlap. Each patient carried a digital spirometer (from Medical International Research – MIR Smart One) measuring their lung function.
Some patients carried a combination of connected monitoring devices into their daily lives: a pulse oximeter tracking blood oxygen (from Masimo), a sensor-equipped inhaler jacket logging technique and adherence with every dose (Hailie from Adherium) and connected personal fitness and lifestyle trackers.
Together, those devices, wearables, and patient-reported symptom checks generated more than 11.5 million data points across the program – an average of approximately 24 signals per patient per day.
The devices fed CareCentra’s AI platform – a continuous stream of data feeding CareCentra’s predictive intelligence platform, which evaluated each reading against individualized baselines and GOLD and GINA guideline-based protocols.
Most importantly, the system did not wait for symptoms to become emergencies.
“It watched for early signals of deterioration: a drop in Forced Expiratory Volume in 1 second (FEV1), a key pulmonary function test that measures the maximum volume of air a person can exhale in the first second of a forced breath a dip in oxygen saturation, consecutive missed doses, changes in breathing and sleep patterns,” said Dr. Crossno. “When signals converged into risk, the AI acted -coaching patients, adjusting care plans, or escalating to a pulmonary disease navigator before a crisis required emergency care.”
The iCARE study operated on a tiered intervention logic. CareCentra’s AI serves as the first line of response – detecting distal signals of risk and deploying nudge theory to shape patient behavior before the situation escalates. When FEV1 drops beyond threshold, the system engages inhaler technique and ensures adherence.
“For example, when missed doses accumulate, it addresses adherence barriers. When environmental triggers spike, it warns patients in real time and suggests behavioral actions to reduce risks,” noted Dr. Crossno.”
When AI-driven behavioral intervention is not enough – when the convergence of signals indicates imminent exacerbation – the platform escalates to a pulmonary disease navigator, who is a registered respiratory therapist trained to coordinate care across the patient’s entire clinical team.
“This is not a call-center triage,” said Dr. Crossno. “It’s precision escalation: every navigator contact is triggered by data, including by a patient’s ability to recognize and report their own deterioration. They get full context to enable preventive interception of risk that drives reduced hospitalizations and emergency department visits. The productivity gains are as striking as the clinical ones.”
Before the iCARE study, each navigator managed approximately 30 patients.
With AI helping to handle routine monitoring and prioritizing only the highest-risk contacts, a single navigator now helps to monitor nearly 220 patients – a sevenfold increase in capacity, achieved without sacrificing the human judgment that high-acuity respiratory care demands.
“We have created an AI driven health maintenance and early warning system – a smart check-engine light – to keep patients healthier and stay out of the hospital. By sensing rising risks between clinic visits and shaping patient behavior through AI, we facilitate intervention before an exacerbation,” said Vasant Kumar, chief executive officer of CareCentra.
Results of the study are significant: Total cost of care fell 57 percent per patient per year (from $36,837 to $15,899) across all payers. Hospital admissions were cut in half (50.3 percent reduction), emergency department visits declined 20 percent, and observation stay costs decreased by 73 percent.
Outpatient costs also fell 29 percent even as outpatient visit volume declined 12 percent – evidence that patients were reaching clinical stability, not merely shifting utilization between settings.
Dr. Crossno said patient engagement defied conventional expectations about digital health adoption among older populations. Daily active use ran at 54 percent – and rose with age. Patients in their eighties showed the highest engagement rates in the cohort, at 62.5 percent for daily active use.
“The human element of care can never be replaced, but we can make it significantly more efficient by bringing care directly to the patient when they need it most,” said Kim Bennion, director of respiratory care research at Intermountain Health and a member of the research team. “Navigator productivity has increased from 30 patients per navigator to nearly 220. That is the power of AI-enabled continuous care. This will allow us to provide higher levels of care for more of our patients.”
Intermountain Health is now considering ways to scale the iCARE technology across its network of 34 hospitals and 400 clinics – a system serving patients across Utah, Idaho, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and Nevada.
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- Intermountain Health iCARE study