Clinical laboratories may choose to determine the benefits or detriments of closed-system multiplex assays for identification of gastrointestinal pathogens as compared to the performance of traditional culture, staining, and antigen detection methods. A 60 residual stool specimen study compared the performance and costs of the current testing algorithm in use at a 208-bed acute care facility in Michigan, and the BioFire FilmArray GI panel. A study of the costs, both to the laboratory and the patient, of four multiplex molecular assays and the traditional testing algorithm was also conducted. Performance of the BioFire FilmArray was not statistically different from the traditional algorithm. The multiplex molecular methods were not more costly to the laboratory or the patient for all possible testing order sets for traditional testing.
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