A rapid sepsis test used in the emergency department at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee has been associated with a 42 per cent reduction in mortality and almost two fewer days in hospital for patients with suspected infection. The findings, presented at the IHI Forum, add to growing real-world evidence for IntelliSep, a lab test that measures immune dysregulation and delivers results in under ten minutes.

Sepsis remains a leading cause of death in hospitals and is among the most expensive conditions for health systems to manage. Early diagnosis is difficult because symptoms overlap with a wide range of other acute presentations, from infection to cardiogenic shock. IntelliSep is designed to give clinicians an objective, rapid measure of a patient’s immune response, supporting risk stratification at triage and helping identify those at highest risk of deterioration.

The Froedtert analysis reviewed outcomes for 6,040 emergency department patients with suspected infection between August 2024 and May 2025. Researchers used propensity matching to account for baseline clinical differences, comparing patients who received the test with those who did not. According to the team, hospital length of stay was 1.9 days shorter overall for those tested with IntelliSep. Among septic patients the reduction was 2.2 days, and in the non-septic group it was 1.7 days.

Mortality was also substantially lower. The study reported a 42 per cent reduction in overall mortality among tested patients, with septic patients experiencing a 35 per cent reduction and non-septic patients a 43 per cent reduction.

Thomas Carver, study author and senior medical director of critical care services at the Medical College of Wisconsin, said: “We believe that the IntelliSep test gives physicians more confidence in diagnosing or ruling out sepsis and can help with resource utilisation.”

The findings support earlier evidence from an evaluation at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge, which followed more than 12,000 patients over a 12-month period. That study showed a 0.76-day reduction in hospital length of stay and a 39 per cent reduction in mortality among sepsis patients tested with IntelliSep.

Ajay Shah, co-founder and CEO of Cytovale, said: “Even when physicians used the test at their discretion, without a strict protocol, IntelliSep aided clinical decision making, resulting in significantly better patient outcomes.”

The Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin health network is now taking steps to expand use of the test across its system. Cytovale said IntelliSep is currently deployed in five states and has been used to test more than 60,000 patients to date.

Hospital leaders cited operational benefits alongside clinical improvements, noting that faster decision making at triage could help reduce unnecessary interventions for lower-risk patients and prioritise care for those most likely to deteriorate.

The researchers said further evaluation is ongoing as they monitor implementation across a wider patient population and assess how early immune response data can be integrated into existing sepsis pathways.