Financial Case Studies

Errors in identifications may cause high repeat testing rates and time delays that affect operations and production, which effectively increase overall cost. Delays in making a correct identification can lead to an erroneous root cause analysis, which can be even more expensive and ultimately affect supply chain. Comprehensive depth of library entries, method of the data analysis used for interpretations and inclusion of relevant species frequently found in manufacturing environments have a significant impact on accuracy, reliability and cost to obtain an identification. Databases that are not routinely updated and curated through a validated cGMP process can lead to taxonomic errors in species level identifications or generate inconclusive results. As an independent contract laboratory service provider offering multiple technology solutions, Accugenix routinely compares differences in commercially available system performance for environmental isolates to establish service claims for our clients. Aside from the improvements in accuracy, reportable rates and operational efficiency realized through Accugenix’s superior microbial identification services, a significant cost savings over in-house testing can also be realized.

Determining the financial benefit of outsourcing involves more than a simple comparison of annual reagent and consumable costs versus the price per test being offered by the contract laboratory. The true cost requires an analysis that examines the fixed and variable costs attributed to obtaining an identification, as well as the expected performance of the identification system based on key performance indicators. Examples of key performance indicators are: the percentage of identifications resulting in high confidence species level calls that can be obtained on the initial test and the percentage of samples that have to be repeat tested because a species level identification cannot be determined due to low confidence results or missing library entries. Often, after two attempts, samples are submitted to a third party to seek an identification, adding yet additional costs. Based on our vast experience with ID systems as an independent contract service laboratory, we confidently present the expected yield of reportable results for the following ID systems:

AccuGENX-ID® – 98% Yield, 97.8% Correct

AccuPRO-ID® – 98% Yield, 96.0% Correct

MicroSEQ® 2.0 – 85% Yield, 76.5% Correct

Biotyper™ – 75% Yield, 70.4% Correct

VITEK® 2 Compact – 73% Yield, 58.4% Correct

Click below to review typical case studies of potential savings that can be achieved by outsourcing to Accugenix. These case studies do not take into consideration the intangible cost benefits derived from diverting staff away from reagent quality control, special media preparations, ancillary phenotypic testing required to make an ID such as Gram staining, documentation and maintenance activities involved in the in-house microbial identification testing. Outsourcing can achieve greater departmental efficiency by diverting man power to other labor intensive tasks associated with QC Microbiology. If you would like us to perform an individual cost analysis with no obligation to you, just click here to make a request. We can perform the analysis for customers sending samples to Delaware or Europe, in U.S. Dollars, Euros or British Pounds. You can explore our complete service pricing by volume and turnaround time by clicking here.

  • Case Study 1 – Insourcing Cost per Reportable ID with a Newly Purchased Phenotypic System performing 200 identifications per year or 16 per month.
  • Case Study 2 – Insourcing Cost per Reportable ID with a Newly Purchased Sequencing System performing 600 identifications per year or 50 per month.
  • Case Study 3 – Insourcing Cost per Reportable ID with an amortized Phenotypic System performing 300 identifications per year or 25 per month.
  • Case Study 4 – Insourcing Cost per Reportable ID with an amortized Sequencing System performing 600 identifications per year or 50 per month.
  • Case Study 5 – Insourcing Cost per Reportable ID with a Newly Purchased MALDI-TOF System performing 600 identifications per year or 50 per month.
  • Case Study 6 – Benefits of a Corporate Agreement for Multiple Manufacturing Sites.

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