AI technology a game changer for treatment of COPD and asthma

A new study by researchers at Intermountain Health and CareCentra found that using AI technology to streamline and enhance care for two of the world's most common chronic pulmonary conditions resulted in a 50% drop in hospitalizations, 20% fewer emergency department visits and a 57% cost reduction.

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.

Those two pulmonary conditions 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 some of the most concerning moments for doctors treating patients with chronic lung disease are not hospitalizations but the period between patient visits – those weeks or months in which risk accumulates invisibly, unmonitored, until the next health crisis arrives.

Researchers from Intermountain Health and CareCentra set out to end that by utilizing new AI technology to help monitor patients between visits and improve care for patients with COPD and asthma.

In the two-year study, Intermountain Health researchers found that continuous, AI-driven monitoring of patients resulted in reduced total cost of care for patients by 57%, hospitalizations by 50%, and emergency department visits by 20%.

"The clinical results of the 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.

About 1,200 patients at five Intermountain Health hospitals in Utah participated in the study over a two-year period to observe what happens when a health system is proactive and intervenes to prevent patients from deteriorating by supporting them at home to help them manage their health.

Jill Bailey of Bountiful was one the patients who participated in the study.

Bailey has had asthma her whole life and has been hospitalized many times, and intubated nine times, as doctors have tried to care for her through the years.

She said her condition has significantly impacted the quality of her life.

"I've been in the hospital more than I've out, I was at the doctor's more than I was home, it was a lot of expense, a lot of time, a lot of energy, and we just never could like stay on top of it," she said.

She says the iCare study and AI technology have helped change her life for the better. She no longer needs to live on steroids and spend so much time seeking medical care.

"I was really glad that I made it through all those times to see technology help us live," she said. "I feel so much better today."

Researchers agree.

They say the answer is clear: the study shows that continuous connected care that utilizes AI technology works for patients.

The iCARE study began in March 2024 at five Intermountain Health hospitals in Utah – Intermountain Medical Center in Murray; Intermountain St. George Regional Medical Center; Intermountain Utah Valley Hospital in Provo; Intermountain LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City; and Intermountain McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden.

Researchers enrolled 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," Crossno said. "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."

CareCentra's AI system 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 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," Crossno said. "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.

"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."

"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.

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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