NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Using a Quidel Sofia influenza immunoassay as an initial screening tool saved Tufts Medical Center approximately $36,000 during the 2014 winter flu season, researchers at the center have reported.

In a retrospective analysis of a respiratory illness testing algorithm using the Quidel assay prior to syndromic testing with the BioFire FilmArray respiratory panel, clinicians and laboratorians at Tufts said the $36,000 was saved in comparison to a summer period in which the 20-target FilmArray panel test was used alone as the first-line assay.