Infusion Clinic

Infusion Therapy For HomeCare

Mercer Health Disease Management offers a welcome alternative to lengthy hospital stays for medically stable patients requiring intravenous (IV) therapies. Our highly trained clinical pharmacists and registered home infusion nurses work together with the physician to meet the individual needs of each patient, from
adult to pediatric.

Our infusion suites provide an alternative to hospitalization for patients who need to receive medical infusion or injection services in a controlled setting. Patients receive kind and compassionate care from our highly skilled, infusion-trained registered nurses (RNs) and clinical pharmacists in a comfortable and calm atmosphere. Often, patients who have been prescribed a self-injection course of therapy by their physician can receive training in the self-administering of that therapy in an infusion suite.

Services offered:
Infusion therapy services
First dose injections
Continuous injection therapy
PICC (arm intravenous access) and dressing changes
IV access blood draws

Your team
Your nurse helps you feel at ease with your
therapy, monitors your progress, reports to your doctor and coordinates your supply needs. A
clinical pharmacist works with your doctor and
nurse to manage the therapy. Our patients know that their team is only a telephone call away. Services also include insurance verification and authorization by our trained insurance specialists.

Therapies provided by Mercer Health Disease Management Clinic include antibiotics, Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN), chemotherapy, drug therapies, pain management, hydration therapy, growth hormones and blood clotting therapies.

While Mercer Health’s Disease Management Clinic’s services are impressive by any standard, it is the staff of dedicated professionals who make our area's popular healthcare choice. We are committed to providing each patient with individual attention and timely, thoughtful service. The Mercer Health’s team includes a staff dedicated to helping you coordinate your insurance coverage – to maximize your benefits and minimize your out-of-pocket expenses.

Infusion therapy for Home Care

What is Home infusion therapy?
Home infusion therapy involves the administration of medications using intravenous, subcutaneous, and epidural routes (into the bloodstream, under the skin, and into the membranes surrounding the spinal cord).
Drug therapies commonly administered via infusion include antibiotics, chemotherapy, pain management, parenteral nutrition, and immune globulin. Diagnoses commonly requiring infusion therapy include infections that are unresponsive to oral antibiotics; cancer and cancer-related pain; gastrointestinal diseases or disorders which prevent normal functioning of the GI system; congestive heart failure; immune disorders; growth hormone deficiencies; and more.

Why are Infusions Performed at Home?
Until the 1980s, patients needing infusion therapy had no option but to remain in an inpatient setting until the completion of their therapy. With the heightened emphasis on cost-effectiveness and cost-containment in health care, clinicians began to search for strategies to eliminate or reduce these costly inpatient stays. For individuals requiring long-term therapy (such as those requiring lifelong intravenous nutrition supports) inpatient care is not only tremendously expensive, but also prevents the individual from resuming normal lifestyle and work activities.

Home infusion has been proven to be a safe and effective alternative to inpatient care for many disease states and therapies. For most patients, receiving treatment at home or in an outpatient clinic setting is preferable to inpatient care. A thorough patient assessment and home assessment are performed before initiating infusion therapy at home to ensure that the patient is an appropriate candidate for home care.
Who Provides Infusion Therapy?

Infusion therapy always originates with a prescription from a qualified physician who is overseeing the care of the patient. A provider of infusion must be a licensed pharmacy or work in conjunction with a licensed pharmacy. Home nursing services are also provided to ensure proper patient education and training and to monitor the care of the patient in the home.

What are the primary I.V. therapies administered at home?
By far, the major home I.V. therapies are I.V. antibiotics, prescribed primarily for such diagnoses as cellulitis, sepsis, and osteomyelitis; other diagnoses include urinary tract infections, pneumonia, sexually transmitted diseases, and sinusitis.

Other major home I.V. therapies include total parenteral nutrition, chemotherapy, pain management, enteral nutrition, IV immune globulin, dobutamine, growth hormone, and other therapies.

Does Medicare cover home infusion?
The short answer is no. But the real answer is that certain therapies are covered when administered using durable medical equipment (a mechanical or electronic infusion pump). Only a select few therapies are covered and only under very specific conditions. These include antiviral therapies, some chemotherapies, some inotropic therapies (i.e., dobutamine), and some pain management therapies. More specific information can be obtained by contacting the Medicare durable medical equipment regional carriers (DMERCs) or by visiting their websites at:

Region A - HealthNow New York Inc. - www.umd.nycpic.com

Region B - AdminaStar Federal, Inc. - www.adminastar.com

Region C - Palmetto GBA - www.pgba.com

Region D - CIGNA HealthCare - www.cignamedicare.com

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