We propose a clinical pathway of acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) based on state machine. Clinical event-driven response was utilized to control workflow execution of the AECOPD clinical pathway. By comparison with the traditional clinical pathway management, clinical numerical results showed that the proposed method was better in hospitalization days, average hospitalization expense and aberration rate, and better handled the variability in the AECOPD clinical pathway execution.