April 24, 2023 – Intermountain Health medical informaticists have developed and implemented a novel and interoperable technology platform that hosts real-time clinical decision support tools to help medical providers use evidence-based medicine, algorithms, and artificial intelligence (AI) apps which aid them in making more precise diagnoses and treatment plans for patients at the bedside.
The first application that Intermountain Health is using on this new platform is an updated version of the ePneumonia app, which was first used in 2011. This updated app is currently being used to help emergency department clinicians enhance the diagnosis and treatment of pneumonia patients at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah.
The benefits of how the Intermountain ePneumonia app has already significantly helped save patients’ lives by getting them the right antibiotics sooner and ensuring they receive the appropriate level of care, was shared in a series of studies in peer-reviewed papers.
Intermountain Health has other apps for other medical specialties and diagnoses planned that will also run on the new platform. The platform is unique in the way it was developed and versatile in its capabilities and potential uses.
This real-time, FHIR-enabled platform is truly interoperable; it can be used with the major vendors of electronic health records (EHRs), and it allows clinicians to securely read from and write directly to the medical record in real-time. It does this by operating outside of the EHR and using a common standard healthcare language called Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources or FHIR.
The foundation of the platform is a standards-based, workflow engine that integrates a variety of services including:
- FHIR-based read and write services which securely read from and write to the EHR in real-time;
- Publish and subscribe event processing, which continuously updates the workflow engine as new test results are added to the patient’s medical record;
- Imaging services — chest images are interpreted by an AI, deep neural network;
- Diagnostic services are executed by an AI, Bayesian network;
Clinicians use the data from the app – along with the information and nuances they’ve gathered during their visit with the patient – to help them determine the best course of treatment. The ePneumonia app alone, has broad applications.