Infusion services: Analysts see ‘shift in thought process’

YARMOUTH, Maine – Ambulatory infusion suites have become the fastest-growing segment in the home infusion and specialty pharmacy market, say analysts. 

While Provident estimates that 55% of infusion services are conducted in the hospital, 30% in the home, 10% in office-based settings like physician offices and 5% in AICs, the latter is growing in the double digits, it says. 

“Both from a margin perspective and the number of patients the staff can handle, I think you are seeing a shift in the thought process around AICs and in-office infusion,” said Michael Patton, managing director at Provident Healthcare Partners. “I think people are just as interested, if not more interested, in the AIC side these days. You can service a lot more people and I think more people are recognizing the economics of the growth within the AICs.” 

Earlier this year, PromptCare acquired New Orleans-based Coastal Infusion Services, which has successfully rolled out a model of AICs, signaling its focus on that segment. And Option Care has been steadily opening suites – it added three in the second quarter – and says nearly 32% of all nursing events now take place there. 

For companies that have historically been focused on the home setting, adding suites to its offerings provides more choice for patients – and more opportunity to capture those patients, say analysts. 

“(They want) the ability to overlay (the home infusion model) with a network of AICs, because if you are a single-setting focused group, whether AIC or in the home, there’s always going to be some level of leakage,” says Scott Davis, managing director at Provident. 

Overall, interest in the $1.2 billion home infusion and specialty pharmacy space remains high, says Patton. 

“Just with the spend, the size of the market, the desire to get things outside of the hospital system as an alternate site of care – I think that’s what we see driving things, along with the demographics of the population, as well,” said “In health care, it’s one of the most attractive areas for investors.”