Economic Value of the BIOFIRE GI Panel
Traditional testing methods for gastrointestinal infections come with several downsides: they are often slow, labor intensive, and ultimately may not provide answers. While these methods may have lower upfront costs, the speed, comprehensiveness, and accuracy of the BIOFIRE® FILMARRAY® Gastrointestinal (GI) Panel can lead to meaningful cost and resource savings.
The Trouble with Traditional Testing
A large number of pathogens—bacterial, viral, and parasitic—can cause infectious gastroenteritis. Unfortunately, the symptoms these pathogens can cause are strikingly similar: diarrhea, abdominal pain and cramping, possible vomiting, possible fever, among others. That makes it extremely difficult to know what’s causing the symptoms without diagnostic testing.
With the traditional approach, gastrointestinal testing becomes a guessing game. The clinician decides which pathogens to test for. When those tests come up negative, the clinician orders further testing for additional pathogens. This may involve multiple patient samples for stool culture, parasitology, immunoassays, traditional PCR, and other send-out tests.
This is all very labor intensive for the laboratory, and costs for serial testing can begin to add up. And in the end, the tests may not provide actionable results at all. Traditional testing has been found to offer a diagnostic yield somewhere between 6 to 18%.1-4
The Syndromic Approach
In contrast to traditional testing, the multiplex PCR BIOFIRE GI Panel is both fast and comprehensive, returning results in about an hour on a menu of 22 pathogens commonly associated with gastrointestinal infections.
This syndromic approach—simultaneously testing for multiple pathogens associated with a disease syndrome—dramatically increases the chances of pinpointing the possible causative pathogen. In fact, studies have shown the BIOFIRE GI Panel improves diagnostic yield 25–36% compared to traditional testing methods.1-4 Additionally, syndromic testing with the BIOFIRE GI Panel was found to reduce the average time to result by 84%.1
Streamlined Workflow
The speed, ease of use, and comprehensive menu of the BIOFIRE GI Panel provide several workflow benefits that can save both time and money in the lab. The panel may potentially reduce the number of send-out tests, for example. The BIOFIRE GI Panel has been shown to reduce the average number of laboratory tests from 3 to 1.1
The BIOFIRE GI Panel requires only two minutes of hands-on time for the technician to prepare the pouch. From there, the pouch is simply inserted into the BIOFIRE® FILMARRAY® System module and the run is started. In about an hour, the BIOFIRE System software provides a report detailing whether each target was detected in the sample or not.
Additionally, the BIOFIRE System enables labs to simplify test ordering and minimize manual data entry, potentially leading to greater efficiency and accuracy. The BIOFIRE® FILMARRAY® Torch can run up to 264 patient samples each day, while the BIOFIRE® FILMARRAY® 2.0 can run up to 175 samples each day. For both systems, a scalable configuration enables customized throughput and efficient use of bench space.
Decreased Healthcare Expenditures
For healthcare organizations, the BIOFIRE GI Panel may provide cost savings on procedures, hospital stays, and treatments:
- The BIOFIRE GI Panel resulted in estimated healthcare cost savings of $293.61 per patient.1
- The panel can help reduce downstream procedures such as endoscopies, CT scans, X-rays, and ultrasounds.1,5
- The BIOFIRE GI Panel can lead to a reduction in the use of antibiotics.5
Positives for Outpatient Clinics
Clinics that have the ability to run moderate complexity tests may also see value in deploying the BIOFIRE GI Panel. Urgent care clinics, pediatrician offices, family practice clinics, and gastroenterology offices can offer more timely diagnoses for gastrointestinal infections with the BIOFIRE GI Panel.
With comprehensive results available in about an hour, clinics may be able to provide results during the patient visit, potentially reducing the need for follow-up visits. Furthermore, the BIOFIRE GI Panel may help with the following: operational efficiency, reducing unnecessary downstream testing, increasing confidence in treatment plans, and enabling the right treatment to be prescribed sooner.
An Accessible Investment
Determining the cost of onboarding and running the BIOFIRE GI Panel depends on several factors. To get exact pricing information tailored to your institution, please contact our team.
REFERENCES:
- Beal S, et al. J. Clin. Microbiol. January 2018 56:1 e01457-17.
- Spina A, et al. Clin Microbiol Infect. 21(8):719-28.
- Khare R, et al. J Clin Microbiol. 2014 Oct;52(10):3667-73.
- Cybulski R, et al. 2018. Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2018. 67(11):1688–1696
- Axelrad JE, et al. J. of Clin. Microbiol. 2019; 27;57(3). e01775-18.
Individual hospitals and physicians are responsible for exercising independent clinical judgment in selecting the codes that most accurately reflect a patient’s condition and the procedures performed as well as their own billing decisions. Laws, regulations, and policies concerning coding and payment are complex and subject to change. Physicians and hospitals should refer to current, complete, and authoritative publications, such as American Medical Association (AMA) CPT lists, Medicare transmittals, Local Coverage Determinations, and third-party payor policies as the basis for selecting codes that describe care rendered to an individual patient and that comply with all laws, regulations, and policies applicable to the healthcare provider, and may wish to contact individual Medicare contractors or other third-party insurers as needed.
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