Estimated Clinical and Economic Impact through Use of a Novel Blood Collection Device To Reduce Blood Culture Contamination in the Emergency Department: a Cost-Benefit Analysis

Blood culture contamination results in increased hospital costs and exposure to antimicrobials. We evaluated the potential clinical and economic benefits of an initial specimen diversion device (ISDD) when routinely utilized for blood culture collection in the emergency department (ED) of a quaternary care medical center. A decision analysis model was created to identify the cost benefit of the use of the ISDD device in the ED. Probabilistic costs were determined from the published literature and the direct observation of pharmacy/microbiology staff. The primary outcome was the expected per-patient cost savings (microbiology, pharmacy, and indirect hospital costs) with the routine use of an ISDD from a hospital perspective. The indirect costs included those related to an increased hospital length of stay, additional procedures, adverse drug reactions, and hospital-acquired infections. Models were created to represent hospitals that routinely or do not routinely use rapid diagnostic tests (RDT) on positive blood cultures. The routine implementation of ISDD for blood culture collection in the ED was cost beneficial compared to conventional blood culture collection methods. When implemented in a hospital utilizing RDT with a baseline contamination rate of 6%, ISDD use was associated with a cost savings of $272 (3%) per blood culture in terms of overall hospital costs and $28 (5.4%) in direct-only costs. The main drivers of cost were baseline contamination rates and the duration of antibiotics given to patients with negative blood cultures. These findings support the routine use of ISDD during blood culture collection in the ED as a cost-beneficial strategy to reduce the clinical and economic impact of blood culture contamination in terms of microbiology, pharmacy, and wider indirect hospital impacts.