bioMerieux, Inc.  

Salt Lake City,  UT 
United States
http://www.biomerieux-usa.com

A world leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics for more than 50 years, bioMérieux provides diagnostic solutions (systems, reagents, software) that determine the source of disease and contamination to improve patient health and ensure consumer safety. The company’s products are mainly used for diagnosing infectious diseases and fighting significant issues like antibiotic resistance and sepsis.

 Press Releases

• COLLABORATION DRIVES STEWARDSHIP IMPROVEMENTS (Nov 28, 2022)

  Diagnostic data and advanced analytics have the power to bring
  together laboratory professionals, clinicians, and pharmacists to
  improve collaboration and set antimicrobial stewardship (AMS)
  goals unique to their institution.

  CROSS-DEPARTMENT
  INVOLVEMENT IS
  NECESSARY FOR
  DRIVING STEWARDSHIP
  Thriving AMS committees are built upon the
  belief that everyone has a role to play in improving
  stewardship and that each hospital discipline has
  something valuable to contribute. For example, having
  clinical microbiologists as core team members can
  provide new perspectives on managing antimicrobial
  prescribing through a patient’s journey and how to best
  utilize diagnostic tools and data to optimize treatment.
  Microbiologists can help clinicians and pharmacists
  gain a deeper and longer-lasting understanding of
  how the clinical laboratory operates and what kind
  of specimens are most appropriate. When it comes
  to diagnostic tests, there is a level of probability
  and statistical analysis needed to interpret and
  communicate results that clinical laboratorians may
  be uniquely qualified to handle. The clinical laboratory
  plays a crucial role in test ordering, algorithm
  development, surveillance efforts, and ensuring reliable
  testing. A better understanding of the lab’s role in
  AMS through education can also improve diagnostic
  stewardship to maximize the economic and patient
  benefits of ordering a test.
  In turn, a stewardship program is not complete without
  pharmacists and other clinicians. Clinicians are
  directly responsible for executing the core elements
  of stewardship programs, which include leadership
  commitment, accountability, drug expertise, action,
  tracking, reporting, and education. In addition to
  providing the clinical information necessary for the
  microbiology laboratory to maintain ideal diagnostic
  stewardship practices, clinicians play a large role in
  educating laboratorians and other clinicians about
  topics like drug resistance and optimal prescribing
  practices. Ideally, collaboration and communication
  between clinicians and the microbiology laboratory
  should occur on a daily basis.
  Integrating cross-department exposure into AMS
  committees is part of building a robust, collaborative
  network of information sharing. To do so in a sustainable
  way requires considering how to implement new ways
  of thinking into the specific culture and processes of an
  institution. It takes conscious effort in order to dedicate
  resources and time to improving collaboration, but it is
  worth prioritizing for long-term success.
  Diagnostic data and advanced analytics have the power to bring
  together laboratory professionals, clinicians, and pharmacists to
  improve collaboration and set antimicrobial stewardship (AMS)
  goals unique to their institution.
  UNDERSTANDING THE IMPORTANCE OF
  REGIONAL AND INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT
  Healthcare systems differ in structure and function. Rural versus urban centers and academic versus non-academic hospitals face unique issues and encounter different resource accessibility challenges. Many interior and exterior factors impact how stewardship initiatives are implemented, how the results are communicated, how clinicians will act, and how pharmacists will prescribe based on test results.
  It is important to note that the suggested metrics for evaluating stewardship programs will vary depending on the healthcare setting and its function.1 Common outcome measures may include days of therapy (DOT) of antibiotic use, the frequency of Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile) infections, levels of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in local organisms, and economic impacts.
  The data used to assess these outcomes are often obtained from laboratory testing or produced as a combined result of diagnostic testing and decision-making. Given the variability in laboratory resources and capabilities, cross-functional collaboration between the stewardship team and the laboratory is imperative for adapting testing and algorithms to the local context to achieve desired stewardship outcomes.
  Research findings related to diagnostic testing and outcomes may be challenging to apply in practice because of the variability in laboratory testing and how each laboratory communicates results to the clinical team. In addition, due to differences in the local context, it is not practical to expect laboratory testing, clinical management, and data collection to be done in the same way across settings. Given this, understanding the internal and external factors that determine how both diagnostic and AMS initiatives are implemented is key to creating a language everyone can use to understand the context for measuring and reaching desired stewardship outcomes.
  DIAGNOSTIC DATA AND ANALYTICS AS THE COMMON LANGUAGE OF STEWARDSHIP
  By using data and analytics as the commonly understood language within an AMS committee, healthcare providers can set thresholds, analyze and compare incidence rates, and monitor the impact of stewardship efforts. Easy access to hospital-level resistance data and localized epidemiology trends enables healthcare professionals to communicate and make data-informed decisions.
  Advances in laboratory data collection and analytics positively contribute to stewardship efforts. For example, cumulative antibiograms that used to take significant time and effort for labs to compile can now be created almost instantly, giving users quick access to their hospital’s organism resistance profile. As a result, healthcare providers can better understand the prevalence and burden of certain resistance patterns in organisms, which can directly impact empiric antibiotic use and patient management. The continued development of advanced diagnostic technologies necessary to improve patient care and optimize stewardship programs requires coordinated collaboration between the clinical laboratory and clinical stewardship teams.
  The development of advanced analytics solutions has also created new opportunities for data sharing with public health authorities and hospital systems, providing near-real-time updates necessary for treatment and public health interventions. Diagnostic tests produce the data needed to drive impactful and efficient patient care, public health interventions, and hospital infection prevention.
  REFERENCES:
  1.Barlam TF, Cosgrove SE, Abbo LM, et al. Implementing an Antibiotic Stewardship Program: Guidelines by the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. Clin Infect Dis. 2016;62(10):e51-e77. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciw118

  Author: Andrea Prinzi, PhD, MPH, SM (ASCP) Medical Science Liaison at bioMérieux

• AMR IS THE PROBLEM. ASP IS THE SOLUTION. (Nov 28, 2022)

  Katherine Perez, PharmD, BCIDP
  Director, Antimicrobial Stewardship

  
  Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is among the leading global public health challenges of our time and has most recently
  been exacerbated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Antimicrobial stewardship is the best mitigation strategy healthcare
  systems can implement to address the detriment of AMR while optimizing patient care. The purpose of an antimicrobial
  stewardship program (ASP) is to develop, implement, and evaluate effective and sustainable interventions that improve
  antimicrobial use.1
  The importance of ASPs in the US has been enhanced primarily by the Presidential Advisory Council on Combatting
  Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (CARB) in 2014.2 In response to these landmark recommendations, healthcare accreditation
  agencies, including The Joint Commission, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued
  recommendations and rules for hospitals to implement ASP as a condition of participation.3 The CDC developed core
  elements for successful stewardship programs to help hospitals achieve compliance.
  CDC’s Seven Core Elements
  According to the CDC, roughly 89% of US acute care hospitals with ASPs have self-reported implementing all seven core
  elements. Most often, implementation efforts are lacking for tracking, reporting, and education, representing a major
  lack of access to the data.
  In 2020, the National Action Plan for CARB presented an
  update to the initial plan with evidence-based, coordinated
  actions for the US government to take between 2020
  and 2025 and includes a call to CDC and CMS to further
  define criteria for ASP requirements.4 Notably, the plan
  outlines several “data development” objectives that
  aim to develop new or improved data infrastructure,
  collection, and analysis options. Efforts highlight the
  need to improve adherence to the “FAIR” (Findability,
  Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability) principles
  for data management and stewardship.5 Healthcare
  systems will be challenged with providing rapid, accurate,
  and comprehensive access to antibiotic-resistant isolates,
  integrated data sources, and up-to-date analytics tools to
  combat AMR.
  "Stewardship programs are essential to
  improving patient outcomes and patient safety,
  preserving the efficacy of existing antibiotics,
  and reducing resistance and health care costs."
  Christine Ginocchio, PhD, MT
  VP Global Medical Affairs, bioMérieux and BioFire Diagnostics
  Member, Presidential Advisory Council on Combating
  Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria
  1. Leadership Commitment
  2. Accountability
  3. Pharmacy Expertise
  4. Action
  5. Tracking
  6. Reporting
  7. Education
  As the largest in vitro diagnostics company committed to antimicrobial resistance, bioMérieux’s integrated approach drives sustainable momentum for the future of stewardship programs. bioMérieux takes a proactive partnership-driven approach to combat AMR. We help organizations like yours maximize the power of diagnostics and analytics to detect, identify, and guide treatment for drug-resistant infections. We help healthcare systems capture the value of ASPs with tools that enhance data application, collaborative communication and decision making.
  STEWARDSHIP STARTS WITH DIAGNOSTICS
  It all starts with a test. Optimizing the laboratory work flow to activate fast, actionable diagnostic tools to support responsible use of antimicrobials at each decision point. Implementation of rapid and innovative diagnostic tests for identification and characterization of antibiotic resistant bacteria and distinguishing between viral or bacterial infections are essential to reducing unnecessary use of antibiotics, a major cause of AMR.6
  With real-time detection and ASP intervention, clinicians would be able to identify infecting pathogens and resistance factors within hours, rather than days, and use the knowledge to tailor treatment to each individual patient. Partnership between the laboratory and the ASP, with or without rapid diagnostics, has demonstrated improved clinical and economic outcomes for patients and healthcare systems.7
  Respiratory infections, meningitis and encephalitis, and bloodstream infections are among the most problematic and deadly when appropriate therapy is delayed. Rapid diagnostics for these disease states have demonstrated clear patient care benefits and reductions in healthcare costs. When used in tandem with ASP, solutions like PCR testing directly from clinical specimens can optimize the initiation and duration of antimicrobial therapy, the length of inpatient stay, reduce patient mortality, and time spent in isolation for a patient.8 The CDC highlighted the importance of this collaboration in the most recent Core Elements for Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs by calling out specific, evidence-based actions hospitals can take today. Partnerships between the laboratory and the ASP can impact patient care by:
  •
  Providing the proper use of tests and the flow of results. Prospective audit and feedback of new culture or rapid diagnostic results to reduce the time needed to discontinue, narrow, or escalate antibiotic therapy as appropriate
  •
  Helping optimize empiric antibiotic prescribing by creating and interpreting antibiograms and selective reporting of antimicrobial susceptibility testing in a way that supports optimal antibiotic use and is consistent with hospital treatment guidelines
  •
  Determining the impact of new susceptibility interpretive criteria will have on antibiotic use
  •
  Streamlining communication with clinicians when changes in laboratory testing practices may
  impact clinical decision making
  MEASURING SUCCESS: TANGIBLES
  At their core, ASPs are quality improvement initiatives. Valid and reliable measurements are necessary to reflect and assess the impact of ASP on patient safety, care optimization, and AMR. Access to data is crucial. Laboratory diagnostics provide tangible and actionable results that often provide the initial trigger for ASP interventions. ASP quality indicators can elevate the tremendous value the laboratory brings to patient care. ASP quality indicators are categorized as process, outcome, and balancing measures.
  •
  Process measures gauge whether applied interventions are heading in the intended direction and can be assessed for their congruence with outcome measures
  •
  Outcome measures should be specific to the interventions implemented – syndromic based
  •
  Balancing measures are necessary for systematic monitoring – to ensure that improvement in one aspect or area of care does not inadvertently or negatively impact another
  Leveraging IT capabilities and software solutions to illustrate baseline performance gives ASPs the time to focus, identify key quality metrics tailored for your hospital, and monitor the effects of changes as they are made. bioMérieux continues to develop new IT solutions that not only enhance work in the lab, but integrate data from other hospital sources (electronic medical record, pharmacy, laboratory) to drive the day-to-day patient care initiatives. bioMérieux is dedicating expertise and resources to ensure healthcare providers are seeing clinically meaningful information so they can confidently deliver care.
  
  •
  ACTION
  x
  Improve medication management with high medical value biomarkers (i.e., PCT) for antibiotic initiation, monitoring, and de-escalation. Supported by one-day antibiotic susceptibility testing
  x
  Integrating novel rapid diagnostic testing into clinical practice provides opportunities to enhance antimicrobial prescribing by examining how diagnostic testing is ordered, performed, and reported with ASP coordination
  x
  Interactive analysis of diagnostic and drug utilization
  •
  TRACKING
  x
  Slow the spread of MDRO and support surveillance with faster detection and ID/AST
  x
  Track resistance trends and Healthcare associated infections (HAIs) in real time
  •
  REPORTING
  x
  Monitor and optimize antimicrobial therapy to improve patient outcomes and reduced hospital costs
  x
  Interactive dashboard reporting format for stakeholders to evaluate the process and outcome of testing on patient care to identify potential unintended consequences, costs, effects on AMR rates, and opportunities to enhance the value of diagnostics
  •
  EDUCATION
  x
  Gather the data needed to educate
  clinicians on what results mean and
  how they can take action
  x
  Easily share data with your organization’s stakeholders to demonstrate impact
  x
  Provide institutional adherence to best practices for continuous improvement
  MEASURING SUCCESS: INTANGIBLES
  As a leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics, infectious diseases, and antimicrobial stewardship, bioMérieux is the trusted partner that supports today’s healthcare systems need to confidently deliver improved clinical and economic outcomes by supporting stewardship programs. With a deep expertise in microbiology and infectious diseases, our collaborative-consulting approach for laboratory and stewardship initiatives help our partners understand their processes, navigate implementation, streamline operations, improve productivity, then visualize, analyze, and apply data to support positive patient outcomes. Our partnership approach reveals best practices that can improve patient care and contribute to economically sustainable healthcare systems by creating ways to keep costs under control. This allows you to accelerate stewardship with customized and executable plans that improve efficiency and drive cross-departmental impact.
  PARTNER WITH US.
  Let bioMérieux help propel your antimicrobial stewardship program forward.
  As a diagnostic leader in antimicrobial stewardship, we optimize the continuum of care with a comprehensive and complete solution to combat AMR in your healthcare system. Partners can choose one element or integrate all of them to discover relevant, on-time insights and tangible opportunities that can propel their antimicrobial stewardship program forward.
  About the author:
  Katherine Perez, PharmD, BCIDP Director, Antimicrobial Stewardship bioMérieux–Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Texas College of Pharmacy in Austin, Texas in 2010. Completed a postdoctoral pharmacy practice residency in a combined program at University Health System Hospital and the Pharmacotherapy Education and Research Center at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas followed by a specialty residency in infectious diseases pharmacotherapy at Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, Texas. BCIDP board certified in infectious diseases pharmacotherapy by the Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties.
  “The ease of reliable data transmission between systems, revolutionizes antimicrobial stewardship and transforms the antibiogram to be automated and dynamic."
  John Hurst, PharmD, BCIDP
  bioMérieux Senior Director of Antimicrobial Stewardship, US
  
  Currently member of several professional associations including American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP), Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists (SIDP), Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), Houston Infectious Diseases Network (HIDN), Making a Difference in Infectious Diseases Pharmacotherapy (MAD-ID), and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP). Areas of research interest include antimicrobial resistance, rapid diagnostics, bacterial bloodstream infections, and antimicrobial stewardship.
  About bioMérieux
  Pioneering Diagnostics
  A world leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics for more than 55 years, bioMérieux is present in 44 countries and serves more than 160 countries with the support of a large network of distributors. In 2019, revenues reached €2.7 billion, with over 90% of sales outside of France.
  bioMérieux provides diagnostic solutions (systems, reagents, software and services) which determine the source of disease and contamination to improve patient health and ensure consumer safety. Its products are mainly used for diagnosing infectious diseases. They are also used for detecting microorganisms in agri-food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic products.
  REFERENCES:
  1.
  Resources from the Joint IDSA-SHEA-PIDS Task Force on Antimicrobial Stewardship https://www.idsociety.org/clinical-practice/antimicrobial-stewardship2/antimicrobial-stewardship/
  2.
  https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/docs/national_action_plan_for_combating_antibotic-resistant_bacteria.pdf
  3.
  Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Regulatory Provisions To Promote Program Efficiency, Transparency, and Burden Reduction; Fire Safety Requirements for Certain Dialysis Facilities; Hospital and Critical Access Hospital (CAH) Changes To Promote Innovation, Flexibility, and Improvement in Patient Careexternal icon. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/09/30/2019-20736/
  4.
  https://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/us-activities/national-action-plan.html
  5.
  Wilkinson, M. D. et al. The FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship. Sci. Data 3:160018 doi: 10.1038/sdata.2016.18 (2016).
  6.
  Diagnostic Tests Can Stem the Threat of Antimicrobial Resistance: Infectious Disease Professionals Can Help Dana Trevas, Angela M Caliendo, Kimberly Hanson, Jaclyn Levy, Christine C Ginocchio for the Infectious Diseases Society of America Clinical Infectious Diseases, Volume 72, Issue 11, 1 June 2021, Pages e893–e900, https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa1527
  7.
  Bonine NG,et al. Impact of Delayed Appropriate Antibiotic Therapy on Patient Outcomes by Antibiotic Resistance Status From Serious Gram-negative Bacterial Infections. Am J Med Sci. 2019 Feb;357(2):103-110.
  8.
  Interplay between Rapid Diagnostic Tests and Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs among Patients with Bloodstream and Other Severe Infections Maya Beganovic 1, Erin K McCreary 2, Monica V Mahoney 3, Brandon Dionne 4 5, Daniel A Green 6, Tristan T Timbrook 7•DOI: 10.1373/jalm.2018.026450.

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