Table 2.

Definition and quantification of constants

Constant	Description	Value	References
TPCR	turn-around time of PCR method in days	0.29	in-house data
Tcul	turn-around time of culture method in days	2.5	in-house data
CPCR	costs for a single PCR test	20.50 €	[14]
Ccul pos	costs for a single culture test with positive result	24.10 €	[14]
Ccul neg	costs for a single culture test with negative result	6.40 €	[14]
Cf	costs for follow-up screening	6.40 €	As follow-up screening in the majority of cases leads to a negative result, costs for negative culture tests are assessed
Cc	costs for screening a contact patient	6.40 €	As follow-up screening in the majority of cases leads to a negative result, costs for negative culture tests are assessed
Patc	number of contact patients	2	Calculation based on in-house data
∅ LOSreg	average length of stay of regular patients in days	8	Federal Statistical Office [15]
Patt	number of total inpatients per year	35,322	in-house data
Patr	number of high-risk patients per year	4,367	in-house data
Patn.i.	number of patients without indication for a targeted screening per year	30,955	in-house data
CMRSA ici	costs for MRSA caused by incomplete MRSA carrier identification