AZ Banner Health Hospitals to discontinue Rapid Response H1N1 Testing

Valley Banner Health hospitals will no longer provide Rapid Response H1N1 testing; Test found to be inadequate in sensitivity and specificity performance

Phoenix, AZ – When you feel badly enough to come to an emergency room for care, we know you want answers about what is causing your symptoms. This need to know is heightened when flu symptoms may indeed be indications of the H1N1 flu. However, Banner Health hospitals in Arizona will no longer provide the one-hour Rapid Response H1N1 test for patients.

Microbiologists and infectious disease specialists at Banner Health made this decision for an important reason—they feel the results are wrong too often. The test is particularly known to deliver false negatives, providing a false security to patients and their families. In turn, patients may take treatment and contact precautions less seriously believing that they have been cleared. They may return to work or send their children back to school.

Although positive results on the Rapid Response test are accurate in up to 98 percent of tests, approximately 50 percent of patients with negative findings on the rapid test are later discovered to have the virus.

“You might as well flip a coin,” said Banner Good Samaritan microbiologist, Dr. Michael Saubolle, regarding the test’s inadequacies. Saubolle is on the Banner Health workgroup that is directing H1N1 testing and treatment protocols at Banner’s 10 Valley hospitals and making recommendations to Banner hospitals in six other states.

The standard test, which provides test results in 24 to 72 hours, is more accurate and gives patients and their physicians a clearer direction for treatment and infection control procedures. This test will continue to be offered at Banner Health medical centers.

Patients with suspected H1N1 will be managed as if they have the virus until they can be cleared. This is especially true for high-risk groups, including pregnant women. Waiting until the standard test results are returned in patients with a compromised immune system is not recommended and potentially life-threatening.

Public health agencies including the Centers for Disease Control, Arizona Department of Health Services, the Maricopa Department of Health support this finding and direction in the treatment of H1N1.

Published on behalf of Banner Health
Banner Health is deeply committed to its mission: We exist to make a difference in people’s lives through excellent patient care. Headquartered in Phoenix, Ariz., Banner Health has 22 hospitals and other facilities that offer an array of services including: inpatient and outpatient hospital care, home care and hospice care, nursing registries, surgery centers, laboratories, rehabilitation centers and residential care. Banner Health delivers patient care in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, Nebraska and Wyoming making it one of the largest nonprofit health systems in the country. For more information, visit www.BannerHealth.com.

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