SHEA has published a new resource describing how diagnostic stewardship can improve patient outcomes, strengthen hospital quality metrics, and reduce healthcare costs.

The resource, “Business Case for Diagnostic Stewardship: A Practical Guide from the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) Diagnostic Stewardship Special Interest Group,” was published in Antimicrobial Stewardship and Healthcare Epidemiology (ASHE).

It provides healthcare leaders with a framework for developing institution-specific business cases for diagnostic stewardship programs, with a specific focus on five high-impact interventions: optimizing C. difficile testing; optimizing urine culture use; de-implementing unnecessary procalcitonin testing; optimizing respiratory pathogen panel use; and optimizing blood culture use. The authors estimate that 200-bed community hospitals implementing all five interventions could save $2.5 to 2.8 million in annual laboratory and clinical settings. Improved quality metrics could also reduce CMS hospital-acquired condition penalties by an estimated $200,000 to $600,000.

The authors outline implementation strategies, projected financial impacts, and practical examples for hospitals to adapt to their own strategies for each of the five interventions.