A National Alliance

The right test,
the right guidance,
the right treatment —
at the right time.

A national alliance advocating for responsible IVD testing and clinical decision support — to improve patient outcomes, strengthen antimicrobial stewardship, and reduce the total cost of care.

GUIDE — Guidance for the Utilization of Intelligent Diagnostics & Evidence-Based Care.

Learn More  › How it works
↓ Download the GUIDE Alliance Mission Statement
A clinician reviewing an Arkstone OneChoice interpretive report on a tablet with a colleague
The objective
Shift the paradigm from “cost per test” to “cost per outcome.”
Aligned with CMS Priorities
✓Improve beneficiary outcomes ✓Reduce unnecessary spending ✓Advance value-based care ✓Protect vulnerable populations
The Challenge

Critical decisions are made before evidence arrives.

Infectious diseases remain one of the largest drivers of avoidable healthcare spending in America. Every day, clinicians make critical treatment decisions before complete diagnostic information and proper clinical decision support are available.

Particularly acute in
Skilled Nursing Facilities Long-Term Care Rural health systems Immunocompromised populations High-risk Medicare beneficiaries
The consequences often include:
↑Overuse of broad-spectrum antibiotics
↑Increase of antimicrobial resistance (AMR)
↑Avoidable downstream healthcare costs
↑Preventable hospital admissions
↑Increased length of stay
↑Higher readmission rates
↑Poorer outcomes for Medicare beneficiaries

The result is higher downstream healthcare spending — and worse patient outcomes.

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The Solution

Evidence-based precision medicine.

Modern infectious disease diagnostics, when paired with real-time clinical decision support, allow providers to move beyond empirical treatment toward evidence-based precision medicine. Rapid molecular and phenotypic diagnostics identify pathogens and resistance mechanisms earlier — and AI-enabled clinical decision support analyzes those results in real time to guide clinicians toward:

01
The most effective therapy
Clinically proven against the identified pathogen.
02
The narrowest therapy
The most appropriate spectrum, no broader than needed.
03
The safest therapy
Matched to the individual patient's profile.
04
The most cost-effective
The best value therapy available for the case.
The objective is simple
The right test, the right guidance, the right treatment, at the right time.
Better decisions, faster — while supporting responsible antimicrobial stewardship.
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A physician reviewing a diagnostic report in an exam room
The Initiative

A consortium building the evidence.

Arkstone Medical Solutions, together with leading diagnostic laboratories, healthcare providers, infectious disease experts, antimicrobial stewardship leaders, and policy stakeholders, is forming a consortium to develop an evidence-based framework demonstrating how responsible utilization of diagnostics and clinical decision support will:

✓Improve patient outcomes
✓Reduce unnecessary utilization
✓Reduce antimicrobial resistance
✓Support clinician decision-making
✓Lower total cost of care
✓Advance CMS value-based objectives
CC
Led by Chuck Coolidge, healthcare policy strategist
His team has organized national healthcare alliances and influenced CMS policy on major reimbursement and coverage issues.
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Expected Outcomes

Value that compounds across the system.

Our objective is not to increase testing utilization or reimbursement — it is to identify and support the specific interventions that demonstrably improve outcomes while reducing downstream healthcare costs.

For Patients
✓Faster diagnosis
✓More effective treatment
✓Fewer complications
✓Better outcomes
For Providers
✓Better decision support
✓Improved stewardship
✓Reduced uncertainty
✓More efficient care delivery
For IVD Labs
✓Evidence-based reimbursement frameworks
✓Differentiation from low-value utilization
✓Alignment with value-based care
✓Objective "Responsible IVD Testing" standards
For CMS & Medicare
✓Reduced hospitalization costs
✓Lower readmission rates
✓Better resource utilization
✓Lower total cost of care
For Public Health
✓Improved outbreak prevention
✓Stronger antimicrobial stewardship
✓Better protection for vulnerable populations
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Join the Alliance

Learn more about the GUIDE Alliance.

We are convening independent labs, health systems, infectious disease physicians, stewardship leaders, skilled nursing and long-term care organizations, and public health experts. Tell us about your organization and we'll be in touch.

✓Diagnostic laboratories & national lab organizations
✓Health systems & infectious disease physicians
✓Antimicrobial stewardship & public health leaders
✓Skilled nursing, long-term care & policy leaders

The Responsible IVD Testing & Clinical Decision Support Alliance is a 501(c)(6). We'll only use your information to follow up.

From cost per test to cost per outcome.
From reactive care to precision care.
From data to better decisions.
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