The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed a permanent home infusion benefit available to Medicare patients as earlier as 2021. The home infusion benefit lies within the health payment rule which was finalized in November.
Treatments such as chemotherapy, immune-deficient, and anti-infective treatments will all be covered by Medicare and accessible from home, reducing the number of mandatory trips to hospitals and doctors office that vulnerable patients would otherwise have to make.
“ As you move care into the home, costs go down. You’re not paying all the fees that are associated with hospital settings. You’re not paying for transportation. [And] you’re also increasing compliance with therapy treatment by making it more convenient for the patient. ”
-Laizer Kornwasser, President and COO of CareCentrix
There are, however, still some reservations towards moving Medicare patients to home. Medicare will only cover home infusion therapy if a trained professional is present throughout the treatment. Richard Denness, Chief Strategy Officer at Option Care Health, worries that if access to nurses is limited, it will restricts when patients can receive their infusion therapy. Despite this, he believes that “any patient that is a candidate for home infusion should have that option, and we’re working to help make that possible”.
IData believes that in the coming years, IV therapy will continue to be an increasingly effective method of treatment and present opportunities for both industry veterans and new entrants. Corporate consolidation will increase overall R&D spending and lead to the development of more effective and efficient devices, further growing the market volume and penetration.
According to iData’s research, the U.S. infusion therapy device market in 2017 was valued at $2.26 billion. This is expected to increase, at a CAGR of 3.9%, to reach $2.96 billion by 2024.
For Further Information
To get in an in-depth global market analysis including interviews, procedural volumes, and forecasts, refer to iData Research’s 2, 139 page study titled Infusion Therapy Market Analysis, Size, Trends | Global | 2018-2024 | MedSuite
