As the demand for disinfection has increased over the past few years, so have the various costs associated with it. From purchasing chemicals to the expanding number of staff, keeping people safe from infection can require investment. However, while the up-front costs tend to garner the bulk of the attention, there are significant savings that hospitals can discover by making a commitment to disinfection by saving money on not having to treat infections. Of particular note, there are significant cost-saving benefits of UV-C disinfection.
Standard Costs of Disinfection
When searching for the right method of disinfection, there are several options to choose from, each with varying levels of costs — some solely upfront and others recurring — that must be accounted for. If you were to select electrostatic spraying as your preferred method, for example, this would require the purchase of spraying guns and the various chemicals used to produce the disinfectant solution.
However, while it’s easy to digest these tangible costs and weigh them individually against other methods, the true financial benefits of disinfection should be observed in the results they produce — especially in a hospital setting where healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs) can wreak havoc on budgets.
In the United States alone, HAIs cost hospitals upwards of $30 billion every year. This is due to the extended care patients must receive should they fall victim to one of these potentially lethal infections. So one of the best ways that hospitals can help reduce their costs is to stop HAIs before they occur. Despite there being several disinfection methods to choose from, there’s one form that reigns supreme. And the cost-saving benefits of UV-C disinfection are backed by real research.
Study Confirms Cost-Saving Benefits of UV-C Disinfection
While the germ-fighting science behind UV light is firmly established, are there any cost-saving benefits of UV-C disinfection that can be found when switching from more traditional forms of disinfection?
In 2019, a study was conducted examining the greater financial impact that UV-C disinfection can provide in a hospital setting. The method involved comparing the HAI rates of 5 multidrug-resistant bacteria (Acinetobacter baumannii, Klebsiella pneumoniae, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) from various culture sites both before and after using UV-C disinfection over the course of twelve months.
The incidences of HAIs were reduced by nearly 20%, which resulted in a cost savings of more than $1.21 million over a 12-month period.
When the results came in, they only further cemented the powerful and beneficial nature of UV disinfection. Overall, the incidences of HAIs were reduced by nearly 20%, which resulted in a cost savings of more than $1.21 million over a 12-month period. In conclusion, the study stated that “The UV-C disinfection intervention was associated with a statistically significant facility-wide reduction of multidrug-resistant HAIs and generated substantial direct cost savings without adversely impacting hospital operations.”
