Antimicrobial and diagnostic stewardship: opportunities for return on investment

Implementation of antimicrobial and diagnostic stewardship interventions can offer substantial return on investment while enhancing patient safety and healthcare quality. Clinical benefits include a decrease in antimicrobial resistance, shorter hospital stays, fewer adverse events from unnecessary antibiotic use, and optimized treatment protocols. We aimed to estimate the annual cost savings resulting from various interventions implemented by our Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at a single free-standing children's hospital.

Cost analysis.

Free-standing children's hospital.

Hospitalized patients.

We reviewed annual cost savings related to various targeted antimicrobial and diagnostic stewardship initiatives, including drug cost savings from guidelines and protocols, prevention of antimicrobial resistance, diagnostic stewardship interventions, penicillin allergy de-labeling, and sustainability efforts. Institution-level cost data were evaluated when feasible. Otherwise, cost estimates were extrapolated from the literature.

The Antimicrobial Stewardship Program saved an estimated $4,972,805 annually. This was a result of $1,155,405 in direct drug cost savings, $2,953,216 in savings related to a decrease in multi-drug resistant organisms, $75,000 in savings from penicillin allergy de-labeling, $689,184 in savings related to diagnostic stewardship interventions, and $100,000 in savings from sustainability efforts.

Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs can be associated with significant cost savings, justifying the investment. Collaboration across departments, particularly with microbiology, pharmacy, infection prevention, and service providers is central to the ongoing success of stewardship efforts, underscoring the multidisciplinary strength and efficiency of the approach.