{"slug": "this-ai-driven-app-is-saving-peoples-lives", "title": "This AI-driven app is saving people’s lives", "summary": "Intermountain Health and CareCentra found that pulmonary disease patients using an AI-powered symptom-tracking app had lower care costs and fewer hospital and doctor visits over two years. One patient, Jill Bailey of Bountiful, Utah, said the app saved her life by helping her manage lifelong asthma that previously required nine intubations. The app uses Bluetooth devices and AI to monitor vitals, provide daily guidance, and alert doctors to early signs of decline, potentially reducing the burden of COPD and asthma, which affect millions of Americans annually.", "body_md": "- Intermountain Health and CareCentra conducted a study where pulmonary disease patients used an AI-powered app to help them track their symptoms.\n- After two years, patients using the app had lower care costs and went to the hospital and doctor's office less.\n- One patient from the study said the app saved her life.\n\nJill Bailey, 61, of Bountiful, Utah, describes how her lifelong asthma has caused her to be intubated nine times.\n\n“Every time, they told my family I wasn’t going to make it,” she said. “I was in the hospital more than I was out. I was at the doctor’s more than I was home.”\n\nBut in the past year, Bailey said she’s been home more than ever before — thanks to a new app that uses AI to help her know what’s going on in her body.\n\n### The many costs of pulmonary disease\n\nBailey told the story during a media event on Intermountain Hospital’s campus where medical staff introduced a new app they’ve created and have tested for two years, the goal to make life — and breathing — easier for people who have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or asthma.\n\nAn Intermountain Health news release called those lung challenges “two of the most common chronic pulmonary conditions in the world.”\n\nAround 8% of people in the U.S. have asthma, per the [Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America](https://aafa.org/asthma/asthma-facts/), which said it’s one of the most costly diseases. Fewer people have COPD, but the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention](https://www.cdc.gov/cdi/indicator-definitions/chronic-obstructive-pulmonary-disease.html) said it’s one of the top 10 causes of death in America.\n\nBeyond the actual bill from multiple hospital and doctor’s office visits a year, having asthma costs Bailey a lot of money and time, she said.\n\nBailey also has to pay for multiple medications. She said that the anxiety that comes along with her condition often causes her to miss work, leading to smaller paychecks. And worst of all, she misses out on precious time with her family.\n\n“Nobody wants to be a victim or a patient all the time. People want to be a mother and a daughter, and we want to be grandmas. We want to take care of our families,” she said.\n\n### A modern solution for modern times\n\nThe app the researchers at Intermountain Health and CareCentra created lets patients with pulmonary disease input their daily health vitals via Bluetooth devices like pulse oximeters, inhalers and personal fitness trackers. An AI feature in the app monitors their numbers, asks them questions about their daily symptoms and gives them suggestions. For example, if the air quality is bad one day, the AI bot will advise patients to stay inside.\n\nDr. Peter Crossno, senior medical director of respiratory care at Intermountain Health and a principal investigator for the study, said that patients are able to understand what’s going on and why they might be feeling a certain way without having to go to the doctor.\n\n“It’s kind of like having a digital twin in your pocket that’s helping you understand your COPD, your asthma and then reacting, or actually, proactively acting to prevent a series of events that could lead to an exacerbation,” he said.\n\nThe patient’s team of doctors, like Crossno, also had access to the patient’s information that was uploaded to the app. That way, doctors knew what was going on between healthcare visits.\n\n“The AI tool allows us to take all of that data, bring it all in, and the little tiny signals that we as healthcare providers may miss, it’s able to amplify the combination of those signals. So we’re actually able to predict, potentially, patients that are declining or on the wrong side of the curve,” Crossno said.\n\n### Promising results\n\nThe [CDC](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/asthma.htm) said 4.9 million doctor’s office visits happen each year in the U.S. for asthma, as do 1.4 million emergency department visits.\n\nAccording to the [American Lung Association](https://www.lung.org/research/trends-in-lung-disease/copd-trends-brief), “COPD affects 11.7 million adults and accounts for hundreds of thousands of emergency department visits and tens of billions in healthcare costs each year.”\n\nSince patients started using the app for the study two years ago, Intermountain Health said the patients’ costs have been reduced by 57%, hospitalizations happen 50% less often and emergency department visits 20% less often. The study included 1,200 patients across five Intermountain Health hospitals.\n\nOne of the most surprising results, Crossno said, was how well older patients received the technology.\n\nHe said many of the researchers went into the study thinking the older demographic wouldn’t adapt to the app as well or be as motivated to use it. “What we actually found is our older patient population, especially in the COPD population, were more engaged with the technology. They utilized it more. They played with the app more. They worked with the devices more. And that really went against conventional thinking.”\n\nCrossno said that finding is proof that new, growing technologies “can benefit all patients, all ages and hopefully all disease types.”\n\nBailey is one patient reaping the benefits of AI and medicine.\n\n“This app has saved my life,” she said. “It helps educate you, and the more you educate the patients, the more that they’re in control.”", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/this-ai-driven-app-is-saving-peoples-lives", "canonical_source": "https://www.deseret.com/lifestyle/2026/06/02/intermountain-health-app-artificial-intelligence-treat-copd-asthma/", "published_at": "2026-06-02 22:00:19+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-02 22:22:41.990871+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-products", "ai-tools", "ai-startups"], "entities": ["Intermountain Health", "CareCentra", "Jill Bailey", "Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America", "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/this-ai-driven-app-is-saving-peoples-lives", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/this-ai-driven-app-is-saving-peoples-lives.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/this-ai-driven-app-is-saving-peoples-lives.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/this-ai-driven-app-is-saving-peoples-lives.jsonld"}}