New Intermountain Health study finds computerized pneumonia clinical decision support tool helps to reduce mortality disparities in patients facing economic hardships
(PRUnderground) June 1st, 2025
In a new study, researchers from Intermountain Health have shown that by implementing ePneumonia — a computerized clinical decision support tool to guide diagnosis and treatment for patients with pneumonia in the emergency department — they were able to reduce overall mortality rates, especially in patients experiencing socioeconomic hardships.
Pneumonia is a serious infection in the lungs that causes inflammation and difficulty breathing. It is one of the most common causes of death worldwide. An estimated 150,000 people are hospitalized annually for pneumococcal pneumonia, and about 1 in 20 dies as a result.
Pneumonia can be difficult to diagnose. While anyone can get pneumonia, some people are at higher risk, including young children, older adults, and people with certain chronic health conditions. Pneumonia has also been found to disproportionately affect individuals and communities experiencing economic hardship. This is due to a combination of factors that increase susceptibility to the disease and reduce access to treatment and prevention.
ePneumonia is a computerized decision-making support tool that was created in 2011 and integrated into Intermountain Health’s clinical workflow to help predict and guide diagnosis and treatment of patients with pneumonia. Artificial intelligence is built into ePneumonia and it reduces inappropriate deviation from best practices of care.
ePneumonia evaluates a patient’s medical history, emergency department vital signs, findings on chest imaging lab results, and chest imaging findings, and then uses computerized automation to weigh these factors to help clinicians more accurately predict which patients are at greater risk for pneumonia to enhance diagnoses.
The new Intermountain study found that ePneumonia was beneficial for diagnosing and treating all patients at risk for pneumonia in the emergency department, but especially helpful for people who are socioeconomically disadvantaged.
“By using ePneumonia to predict who will be affected by pneumonia, we flattened the differences in mortality in patients across all social groups,” said Jason R. Carr, MD, an investigator in the study and pulmonary medicine specialist and researcher at Intermountain Health. “With this technology, we’re saving more lives for all our patients.”
The study examined whether use of ePneumonia improved outcomes in patients with higher Area Deprivation Indexes (ADI), a calculation that scores socioeconomic disadvantage based on poverty, education, housing, and employment. The higher the score, the more socially disadvantaged the individual.
Patients with high ADI are of particular concern in Utah, which has rural areas with areas that may experience economic challenges.
In the study, Intermountain researchers looked at the clinical impact that implementation of ePneumonia had on patients at 16 Intermountain Health community hospitals across Utah from June 2016 to June 2019.
They did so by identifying adults with emergency department and hospital discharge diagnosis codes from pneumonia or sepsis/respiratory failure associated with pneumonia that was confirmed by X-rays by emergency departments.
Overall, researchers found that ePneumonia was associated with significant reduction in mortality among patients with pneumonia who also had high ADI scores, meaning that fewer people at higher risk died of pneumonia.
Findings from the Intermountain Health study findings were presented at ATS 2025, the American Thoracic Society’s national conference in San Francisco.
The team believes that ePneumonia reduces unconscious bias in physicians’ calculations on who has pneumonia, and treatment decisions, said Nathan C. Dean, MD, a study investigator at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray.
“Physicians may not realize they’re doing this, but it happens. These findings show that having help from a tool like ePneumonia helps our patients by helping physicians overcome those unconscious biases they might not see themselves to ensure all patients are getting the best care possible,” he added.
These preliminary results are encouraging but need further study for confirmation, said Dr. Carr.
About Intermountain Health
Headquartered in Utah with locations in six states and additional operations across the western U.S., Intermountain Health is a nonprofit system of 33 hospitals, approximately 400 clinics, medical groups with some 4,600 employed physicians and advanced care providers, a health plans division called Select Health with more than one million members, and other health services. Helping people live the healthiest lives possible, Intermountain is committed to improving community health and is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare by using evidence-based best practices to consistently deliver high-quality outcomes at sustainable costs. For up-to-date information and announcements, please see the Intermountain Health newsroom at https://intermountainhealthcare.org/news.
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