Evaluating the economic effects of genomic sequencing of pathogens to prioritise hospital patients competing for isolation beds.

ConclusionUsing WGS to inform infection control teams of pathogen transmission averts patients from isolation rooms and reduces significant resources involved in implementing contact precautions.What is known about the topic?There are an estimated 265000 hospital-acquired infections (HAI) in Australia each year. WGS can accurately identify the genetic lineage among HAIs and determine transmission clusters that can help infection control staff manage patients. Economic appraisals are lacking to inform whether pathogen genomics services should be adopted within already-stretched hospital budgets.What does this paper add?An isolation protocol using pathogen genomics to provide additional information on the relatedness of a pathogen between colonised patients showed favourable results for healthcare costs and patient flow. Using WGS, in a confirmatory role, to discontinue certain patients from contact precautions and isolation rooms resulted in cost savings of A$690864 across 1 year for a single major hospital.What are the implications for practitioners?Using pathogen WGS services for infection control potentially curbs hospital spending, averts patient isolations and improves patient flow within hospitals. PMID: 33049199 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Australian Health Review - Category: Hospital Management Authors: Tags: Aust Health Rev Source Type: research