The last time you visited a doctor with symptoms of a respiratory infection, did you walk out with a prescription for antibiotics? The odds were greater than 50/50 that you did. Studies show that over half of patients with upper respiratory infections are given prescriptions for antibiotics — even though viruses are usually the culprit.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also reports that at least 28% of the 236.4 million prescriptions for antibiotics dispensed in 2022 in outpatient settings were not necessary. Although unclear, it seems that it doesn’t include prescriptions that were necessary but didn’t work for the infection they were prescribed for.
But what if the patient experience could be dramatically improved and patient outcomes transformed with two simple steps? It turns out that it is possible with a new standard of care.
“Traditionally, doctors haven’t been testing to see which type of infection a patient has, except for the standard flu and COVID tests that can be done in-house. When patients arrive at a clinic with symptoms of an infection, more often than not, they receive a 10- to 14-day prescription for a broad-spectrum antibiotic and are told to come back if it doesn’t work,” explained Martin Price, Executive Chairman and CEO of HealthTrackRx, the nation’s premier infectious disease laboratory.
When the patient returns because they still have symptoms, the standard test is often a traditional culture and tests to see which antibiotics will treat the infection. Depending on the infection, getting those results back can take three to 14 days. Some pathogens grow quickly and are easy to identify, while others grow slowly and are difficult to identify. But there is a better way.
“When you’re dealing with infectious diseases, the speed of getting those test results back is key,” Price continued.
This standard of care presents many problems. Due to all those unnecessary prescriptions, patients are exposed to antibiotics they don’t need, contributing to antibiotic resistance by pathogens, which the World Health Organization says is a global health threat with significant economic costs.
Patients are also receiving prescriptions for antibiotics that won’t work against the specific infection they have. When patients are dealing with infectious diseases, getting results back faster is critical for reducing the spread of the disease and enabling the patient to get on the correct antibiotic from the start, instead of wasting time on a therapy that won’t work for the infection they have.
Another problem with the traditional standard of care is that longer periods for getting test results back mean more days of missed work or school and more days of suffering from symptoms. It also becomes harder to access the patient if they return to their typical routine a couple of days after the test. Health-care providers don’t necessarily have the staff to do serial outbound calling to try to re-engage a patient days after their visit.
“The answer to these problems is faster test results, and the way to get results back to doctors faster isn’t just about new technologies. We already have newer PCR tests capable of returning results (including which antibiotic will work the best for a particular infection) faster than traditional cultures — and yet, it can still take days to get results back to the doctor who ordered them. The keys to improving the traditional standard of care are logistics and a commitment to working overnight hours,” said Price.
UPS has built a cutting-edge lab called Labport at its Worldport shipping facility in Louisville, Ky. Worldport is UPS’s central hub in the U.S. All early-morning packages that UPS passes through Louisville, no matter where they’re coming from or where they’re headed. Thus, to vastly improve the speed at which test results can be returned to doctors, UPS Healthcare built a lab at the end of the runway at its Louisville distribution hub.
HealthTrackRx is the first and largest tenant at UPS’s Labport facility. UPS Healthcare has its own dedicated control tower that tracks every single package, starting from the moment someone reports they have a package ready for pickup. Labport receives an early warning if a weather event or surge in package volume is causing a delivery delay so that on-site labs can be prepared for the timing of when packages are going to arrive from where.
These early warnings enable us to prioritize staff and equipment to maximize turnaround times and deliver on our commitment of returning test results to doctors in less than 24 hours in spite of delivery delays.
Alternatively, HealthTrackRx can reroute packages from the Louisville facility to one of its other labs in Los Angeles or Dallas. In the case of a missed package pickup or a package that’s been routed incorrectly, improved logistics and early warnings enable labs with a presence at LabPort to recover that package, reroute it, and get it back on track the same day instead of waiting until the next day when someone notices the package never got delivered.
Improved logistics also connect patients in rural areas with the same level of care that patients in large cities with major hospitals receive.
Logistics is a critical piece of the puzzle, but getting test results to physicians faster and improving patient outcomes also requires a changed mindset as far as working hours. Doctors typically look at test results first thing in the morning before they start their day, so it’s critical to have those results on their desk by that time instead of later in the day.
Most labs across the country don’t work overnight, but getting patient results back to clinicians by the early-morning hours on the day following the test requires workers to be in the lab overnight. When labs are so dedicated to improving patient outcomes that they’re willing to work overnight shifts, they will help change the face of health care.
Everyone at some point has been gripped by an infection that seems like it won’t let go, including lab workers. But by working together with logistics companies and committing to working the overnight hours, labs can make a difference in patients’ lives across the country. All it takes is a little teamwork and effort.
Faster, more precise diagnostics are here today, but policy and practice must keep pace. The combination of innovative molecular testing, advanced logistics, and a commitment to overnight operations is already redefining what’s possible in infectious disease care. The opportunity now is to align reimbursement, coverage, and clinical standards with this new reality.
When every patient, regardless of age or geography, can access next-morning answers, we not only improve outcomes but also preserve the effectiveness of antibiotics, lower total costs of care, and strengthen the health of our communities. It’s time to make rapid molecular diagnostics the new standard of care.
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