# Adaptation and pilot implementation of a validated, electronic real time clinical decision support tool for care of Pneumonia patients in 12 Utah Urgent Care Centers

> **NIH AHRQ R18** · IHC HEALTH SERVICES, INC. · 2022 · $444,203

## Abstract

Project Summary
Clinicians’ ability to accurately diagnose pneumonia and choose appropriate treatment is enhanced by well-
designed clinical decision support (CDS), thereby increasing patient safety. Pneumonia CDS has historically
been focused on inpatient settings, but ambulatory care settings with high pneumonia patient volumes and
different care processes also need CDS. We propose to adapt and evaluate an innovative, validated electronic
clinical decision support (CDS) tool based on consensus guidelines for pneumonia (ePNa) to urgent care
centers (UCC). The proposal supports four aims: 1) Adapt ePNa for UCC and after in silico testing, pilot it
among “super user” clinicians during UCC shifts and assess its usability. ePNa needs adaptation for the limited
patient data available in UCC, calibration of severity measures for lower observed mortality, and a chest
imaging prompt in patients with pneumonia signs and symptoms. ePNa for UCC will incorporate the artificial
intelligence CheXpert model to provide real-time (within seconds) electronic classification of chest images for
elements of pneumonia diagnosis and treatment (radiographic pneumonia, single vs multiple lobes, and pleural
effusion). 2) Use the CFIR framework, a focus group of UCC clinicians, and workflow observations to identify
barriers and facilitators to adaptation and implementation of ePNa to UCC. 3) Test the implementation strategy
by deploying ePNa at one of two randomly chosen Intermountain Healthcare UCC clusters each with about
800 annual pneumonia patients - the other a usual care control. 4) Co-primary outcomes are a) Patients
diagnosed with pneumonia without chest imaging will be ≥50% lower in the ePNa cluster. b) Antibiotic
prescribing for treatment of pneumonia will be ≥90% consistent with consensus guidelines and higher in the
ePNa cluster. Safety measures will be unplanned subsequent 7-day ED visits/hospitalizations and 30-day
mortality. Based on this rigorous pilot study, we anticipate a subsequent multi-system cluster-randomized trial
including Cerner systems outside Utah.
Our work incorporates the Five Rights of CDS to ensure that the strengths of this technology are optimized in
the clinical environment. We will leverage experience in innovative pneumonia research, pioneering CDS, and
implementation science available at Intermountain to successfully complete this proposal. The proposal will be
facilitated by and disseminated through Intermountain relationships with the PCORnet Learning Health
Systems Network, PCOR CDS Learning Network, the Healthcare Services Platform Consortium, Cerner, and
clinicaltrials.gov.
Our innovative proposal promises to advance safety for patients suspected of pneumonia in an understudied,
high-volume ambulatory care setting.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10488186
- **Project number:** 5R18HS026886-03
- **Recipient organization:** IHC HEALTH SERVICES, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** NATHAN C DEAN
- **Activity code:** R18 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** AHRQ
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $444,203
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-09-30 → 2024-09-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10488186

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10488186, Adaptation and pilot implementation of a validated, electronic real time clinical decision support tool for care of Pneumonia patients in 12 Utah Urgent Care Centers (5R18HS026886-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10488186. Licensed CC0.

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