ICU Learning Systems Could Transform Critical Care: Chad Hochberg, MD

As intensive care units (ICUs) generate ever larger volumes of clinical data, researchers and clinicians are exploring how learning health systems may help transform critical care delivery and improve patient outcomes. At the American Thoracic Society International Conference 2026 in Orlando, Florida, experts discussed how health informatics, physiologic monitoring, and embedded quality improvement strategies could shape the future of ICU care.

In an interview with The American Journal of Managed Care®, Chad Hochberg, MD, assistant professor in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Johns Hopkins University, explained that ICUs now produce enormous volumes of patient information through electronic health records (EHRs), ventilators, physiologic monitors, laboratory data, and imaging systems.

“We have vital signs that are recorded with pretty high frequency, some charted by clinicians, and some actually going directly from our monitors to the EHR,” Hochberg said. “We have labs, we have imaging, and clinical notes. And so it’s a little overwhelming to know where to start.”

According to Hochberg, one of the most underutilized opportunities may involve improving adherence to established best practices in mechanical ventilation and identifying when deviations from those practices are intentional vs potentially modifiable gaps in care. He also emphasized the growing potential of ventilator waveform and physiologic monitoring data to detect early patient deterioration or mismatches in ventilator management.

The discussion also highlighted the importance of clinician engagement when implementing predictive analytics and artificial intelligence tools within hospital systems. Hochberg cautioned that some predictive tools are being integrated into EHRs before undergoing sufficient clinical validation.

“These should really undergo the same kind of rigorous testing as other interventions that we have in our health system,” Hochberg said.

He added that successful implementation requires collaboration across the full ICU care team, including physicians, respiratory therapists, and nurses, to ensure tools are clinically relevant, usable, and trusted by frontline clinicians.