Is Point-of-Care Hepatitis C Virus Testing Too Expensive?
January 14, 2026
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2 min
8 Key Takeaways
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1
Point-of-care RNA testing could increase lab costs by 260% for HCV.
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2
HCV screening could add $
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3
9 million annually in costs.
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4
33% of HCV diagnoses are from county hospital emergency departments.
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5
Traditional testing has a median turnaround time of 84 hours.
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6
HCV antigen testing is a cost-effective alternative, adding only $11,494 annually.
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7
Emergency department testing for HCV increased 682% from 2017 to 202
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8
Current Medicare reimbursement rates underestimate actual costs.
An analysis conducted by the University of Washington revealed that broad implementation of point-of-care RNA testing for hepatitis C virus (HCV) could escalate hospital laboratory costs by up to 260%. Evaluating eight years of data from over 325,000 tests in a Seattle medical system, the study highlighted that transitioning to these rapid tests might incur an additional $2.9 million annually in laboratory costs, primarily impacting emergency departments. While faster testing methodologies can enable immediate treatment, the financial implications raise significant concerns about resource allocation within healthcare systems.
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