Infection prevention
Faster identification significantly improves patient outcomes Previous studies have demonstrated that fast ID/AST technologies can return actionable diagnostic results within less than 30 hours, substantially shortening time-to-results compared to the standard of care in each country.1
The OHE analysis builds on this
established evidence by quantifying the clinical impact of deploying these faster diagnostics early in the care pathway. Across all seven countries, the results from the model-based health economic evaluation show that earlier access to diagnostic information could prevent thousands of patients with bloodstream infection from progressing to sepsis or septic shock annually, with the number of reported sepsis cases potentially falling by an average of more than 20%. This could lead to fewer sepsis- related deaths and a significant reduction in long-term post-sepsis complications, improving patients’ quality of life.1 “This model demonstrates that early diagnostics reduce the likelihood that high-risk patients progress to sepsis and subsequently lower the risk of lasting health complications after discharge. In the UK, the AMR National Action Plan has identified fast and accurate diagnosis as central to improving outcomes, but diagnostic reimbursement structures have not kept pace with this ambition,” explains Paul Skingley, Vice President of Clinical Operations, UK and Ireland bioMérieux. “At bioMérieux, we are committed to ensuring
that every patient receives the right diagnostic at the right time. We hope these findings support the reforms needed to align funding, reimbursement, and incentives so that high- impact infectious disease diagnostics are valued and adopted based on their system-wide clinical and economic benefits, not just upfront costs.”
A system-wide return on investment Across all G7 countries, the evaluation shows that deploying fast ID/AST early in the care pathway is consistently cost-saving, regardless of how each health system is structured or financed.1
the UK are estimated to be £300 million. These savings reflect both avoided acute phase costs and reduced long-term complications.1
The case for policy change Today, diagnostics represent only a small fraction of healthcare spending, yet they remain constrained by value frameworks that fail to capture their broader health system and population-level impact, bundled reimbursement models that treat them as costs rather than value-generating tools, and misaligned incentives where laboratories bear the expense while savings are realised by other parts of the health system.1 While AMR and sepsis are firmly on the UK policy agenda, as shown by sepsis being one of the first conditions for which a NHS England Modern Service Framework will be developed, these modelled findings provide the evidence-based rationale for rethinking how diagnostics are valued and funded. They make a compelling case for a prospective real-world study to confirm their impact in clinical practice, and in the meantime, they chart a clear way forward: updating reimbursement structures, strengthening diagnostic capacity, aligning incentives, and embedding fast testing early in clinical pathways, so that patients benefit when it matters most.
Importantly, 53% to 83% of all savings occur during the initial hospitalisation, when the clinical and economic consequences of deterioration are most concentrated, because early diagnostic information prevents the likelihood that patients progress into one of the most resource-intensive stages of sepsis care.1
References 1. Hassan S, Hamlyn T, Fong H., Hampson G. The Value of Fast Diagnostics in Time-Critical Infections. 2026. OHE Contract Research Report, London: Office of Health Economics
In the UK, savings are estimated to be £3,000 per patient, driven primarily by fewer ICU admissions, shorter hospital stays, and reduced management of severe complications.1 At the population level, annual savings for
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2.
https://www.hee.nhs.uk/our-work/sepsis- awareness
3. Gray A, Chung E, Hsu R, et al. Global, regional, and national sepsis incidence and mortality, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis. Lancet Glob Health 2025 ;13 :e2013-26.
Download the report: The Value of Fast Diagnostics in Time-Critical Infections: A Use Case in Bloodstream Infections and Sepsis.
4. Bauer KA, Perez KK, Forrest GN, et al. Review of rapid diagnostic tests used by antimicrobial stewardship programs. Clin Infect Dis. 2014;59 Suppl 3:S134145.
5. Kadri SS, Lai YL, Warner S, et al. Inappropriate empirical antibiotic therapy for bloodstream infections based on discordant in-vitro susceptibilities: a retrospective cohort analysis of prevalence, predictors, and mortality risk in US hospitals. Lancet Infect Dis. 2021;21(2):241– 251.
6.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/ media/6936ac34b612700b2cb73607/ESPAUR- report-2024-to-2025.pdf
7.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov. uk/media/664394d9993111924d9d3465/ confronting-antimicrobial-resistance-2024- to-2029.pdf
8.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/ media/6888a0b1a11f859994409147/fit-for-the- future-10-year-health-plan-for-england.pdf
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