Always On: How Copper Linens Shift Both Safety and Spending

In a health care landscape marked by rising antibiotic resistance and tightening budgets, infection prevention leaders are increasingly seeking interventions that operate quietly in the background. Copper-infused textiles are emerging as one such tool.

In this installment of the latest Infection Control Today® (ICT®) linen roundtable, panelists examined the science, economics, and operational realities of integrating passive antimicrobial fabrics into clinical settings.

The conversation opened with a simple question about significance. The moderator asked, “With growing resistance to disinfectants and antibiotics, how significant is it that this is a nonchemical passive antimicrobial defense?”

According to Michael Schmidt, PhD, professor of microbiology and immunology at the Medical University of South Carolina, the answer is rooted in the technology’s constancy. “The short answer is, always on. You don’t have to turn it on,” they said. They highlighted research showing that copper limits plasmid transfer among Gram-negative organisms. “By being exposed to copper, they can’t do that anymore. It limits their ability to conjugate.” In terms of antimicrobial resistance, there is no slight advantage.

Schmidt also emphasized the structural challenge. While the benefits of copper are apparent in the laboratory, health care systems have been slow to adopt revenue-sparing rather than revenue-generating interventions. As they put it, “If you had the choice of investing in a 7 Tesla magnet MRI versus sheets, what would you invest in?” They argued that government and insurance incentives are needed to shift adoption.

Maggie Thieman, MD, vice president of postacute services at West Virginia University Health System and medical director for Vivothreads, agreed with the revenue-sparing premise but reframed the larger financial picture. “For somebody who understands hospital operations and the relationship between insurance companies and hospital systems, there is money to be made,” they said. A shorter length of stay has a tangible downstream impact. “If I am able to reduce this bacterial burden and the infection doesn’t happen, that patient gets out of my hospital on day 4. Day 5 through day 20, I could get 3 more of those same patients in and out.”

Theiman described the financial modeling that their organization has already conducted. By applying real infection-rate data, length-of-stay metrics, and antibiotic costs, they can produce conservative return-on-investment projections. “Let me take it down by a third. Let me make a conservative estimate,” they said. “It is a positive outcome in terms of revenue and financial dollars.”

Operational partners see a similar opportunity. Eddie Lefeaux, CEO and cofounder of Westport Linen Services, explained that most hospital leaders underestimate the capital tied up in linen itself. “We’re going to spend approximately 6 hundred thousand dollars buying linen just to start that facility up day one,” they said. Losses, misuse, and turnover all erode value. Copper-infused fabrics, they argued, offer both clinical and financial protection. “It may be 3 or 4 times more expensive in that acquisition cost, but it is going to be a long-term gain in the marathon.”

They also stressed the broad reach of textiles across the continuum of care. “You touch every patient,” Schmidt reminded them. Lefeaux agreed. “Every patient, exactly, every day.”
As health care systems reassess their infection prevention bundles, copper-infused linens present a rare pairing: passive, continuous microbial reduction and a pathway to meaningful financial resilience.

The first installment is here.

The second installment is here.

The third installment is here.