OBJECTIVES: To estimate the economic impact of introducing monocyte distribution width (MDW) to sepsis screening from an emergency department’s perspective and a patient’s perspective in China.

METHODS: A model was developed to assess the difference in total healthcare costs and per patient per year (PPPY) costs before and after adding MDW to the standard sepsis screening approach in an emergency department in China (a hypothetical one million patients). The model evaluated screening fees, hospitalization costs, labor costs of doctors and nurses, and other hospital operating costs for one year. Costs were estimated in 2021 Chinese yuan. The prevalence of sepsis and costs were obtained from published sources and expert opinions. Time to antibiotic use and hospitalization duration for the standard of care (SoC, i.e., regular blood work) and the inclusion of MDW to SoC were calculated using clinical trial data (data on file). In the base case, the market share of MDW was assumed to be 80% in year one according to market research.

RESULTS: In the base case, 206,000 patients had sepsis among the hypothetical one million patients. The inclusion of MDW in the sepsis screening decreased the healthcare budget by ¥0.66 billion from an emergency department’s perspective and ¥3,794 PPPY from a patient’s perspective. The budget decrease was mainly due to shorter time to antibiotic use and shorter hospitalization duration by adding MDW to the SoC (SoC+MDW vs. SoC: time to antibiotic use, 2.07 vs. 3.95 hours; hospitalization duration, 10.01 vs. 11.46 days). Results were the most sensitive to time to antibiotic use.

CONCLUSIONS: The inclusion of MDW in the sepsis screening offers an efficacious approach with a decrease in the healthcare budget from both an emergency department’s perspective and a patient’s perspective in China.