A new health economic analysis indicates that early use of rapid testing for bloodstream infections reduces patient deterioration and healthcare costs.
Deploying fast identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing (ID/AST) early for patients with bloodstream infections could prevent 36,200 deaths and 84,400 sepsis cases annually in the US, according to a multi-country health economic analysis.
The analysis, conducted by the Office of Health Economics and announced by bioMérieux, examined healthcare systems across Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the US. The study provides evidence that early use of fast diagnostics can reduce preventable deterioration into sepsis and generate cost savings for healthcare systems.
“Every year, over 884,000 Americans are hospitalized with bloodstream infections. Our analysis shows that early diagnostics could prevent 84,400 from deteriorating into sepsis and save 36,200 lives,” says John Osiecki, PhD, vice president of medical affairs, North America, at bioMérieux, in a release.
Addressing Sepsis Management Gaps
Sepsis is associated with at least 350,000 adult deaths or discharges to hospice each year in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). While the initial hours of sepsis management are critical for survival, conventional diagnostic methods typically take two to three days to deliver results. This delay forces clinicians to make treatment decisions with incomplete information, leading nearly one in five bloodstream infection patients to receive inappropriate initial treatment, according to the analysis.
The health economic evaluation used real-world hospital data to model the impact of using fast ID/AST systematically before clinical deterioration occurs. Across all seven countries studied, the model showed that early access to diagnostic information could reduce reported sepsis cases by an average of more than 20%. This reduction leads to fewer deaths and a decrease in long-term post-sepsis complications.
Economic Impact and Hospital Savings
The evaluation shows that deploying fast ID/AST early in the care pathway is consistently cost-saving regardless of health system structure. In the US, the diagnostic technology delivers an estimated $3,400 in cost savings per patient, totaling approximately $3 billion in annual savings.
According to the report, 53% to 83% of all savings occur during the initial hospitalization. These savings are driven primarily by fewer admissions to the intensive care unit, shorter hospital stays, and reduced management of severe complications.
“Our health economic analysis demonstrates that these diagnostics deliver substantial value for both patients and health systems, far exceeding their upfront cost,” says Sophie Vandepitte, PhD, global director market access strategy at bioMérieux and postdoctoral researcher in health economics and management at Ghent University, in a release.
The Case for Policy Reform
The analysis suggests that diagnostics currently remain constrained by bundled reimbursement models that treat them as costs rather than value-generating tools. This often results in misaligned incentives where laboratories bear the expense while savings are realized by other departments within the health system.
The findings align with the US National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria, which calls for the development and use of rapid and innovative diagnostic tests. The CDC is also urging hospitals to strengthen sepsis programs to improve early recognition and treatment. Together, these signals reinforce the need to update reimbursement structures and embed fast testing early in clinical pathways.
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