Abbott ID NOW Point-of-Care Testing

With the rapid aging of the global population, long-term care facilities (LTCFs) have become an increasingly important component of modern public health systems. However, these settings are also at high risk for outbreaks of respiratory infectious diseases. Influenza virus transmission within LTCFs has distinct epidemiological characteristics, including high transmissibility and high risks of severe illness and mortality. In Taiwan, with the accelerated aging of the population, LTCF residents commonly have multiple chronic comorbidities (multimorbidity) and age-related immune dysfunction (immunosenescence). Influenza infection in this population may not only lead to acute respiratory failure but may also contribute to a "silent burden," including post-infection cardiovascular events, metabolic dysregulation, and long-term functional decline. Under the current standard of care (SOC), influenza diagnosis relies on reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing performed by external laboratories, with a turnaround time (TAT) of approximately 24 to 48 hours. This time-to-result gap may delay clinical decision-making, potentially preventing timely initiation of antiviral treatment within the optimal 48-hour treatment window and leading facilities to adopt broad precautionary isolation measures, thereby increasing healthcare resource utilization and staffing burden. The Abbott ID NOW system uses isothermal nucleic acid amplification technology (INAAT) and can provide molecular diagnostic results within approximately 15 minutes. Through a prospective cluster-randomized controlled design, this study aims to evaluate whether implementation of an ID NOW-based point-of-care testing (POCT) strategy can improve clinical outcomes among LTCF residents and reduce overall healthcare costs compared with the current standard diagnostic pathway.