Significant Laboratory Costs Associated With Point-of-Care Hepatitis C Testing

THURSDAY, Jan. 8, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Significant laboratory costs are associated with point-of-care (POC) hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA testing, according to a study published online Dec. 17 in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.

Emily W. Helm, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, and colleagues analyzed HCV testing data from 2017 to 2024 across three medical centers in Seattle to assess strategies for integrating new rapid direct detection tests.

The researchers found that during the study period, there was a 72 percent increase in HCV antibody testing volumes, with outpatient settings accounting for about three-quarters (76.0 percent) of tests and a 2.7 percent positivity rate. There was a 682 percent increase in emergency department testing, to 5,654 tests in 2024, with a 10.3 percent positivity rate; one-third of all HCV diagnoses in the medical system now originate from the public county hospital emergency department. There was a reduction in median collection-to-result turnaround times for antibody-positive specimens after adoption of sample-to-answer HCV RNA testing in 2024 (84 to 45 hours). HCV antigen testing was estimated to detect 98 percent of infections using a viral load cutoff of 10,000 IU/mL. Laboratory costs would increase by 260 percent if all HCV testing was converted to POC RNA (+$6,439 per HCV infection detected); costs would increase by 22.3 percent POC RNA were restricted to the public county hospital emergency departments (+$552 per HCV infection detected). Costs would be slightly reduced by reflexing antibody-positive samples to antigen testing.

“Eradicating HCV is about finding cases — the diagnostics — and the challenge is to find new ways to implement these tests that are affordable,” senior author Alexander L. Greninger, M.D., Ph.D., also from the University of Washington Medical Center, said in a statement.

One author disclosed ties to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.

Abstract/Full Text