Two years ago, my Dad was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis and put on an infusion therapy plan. My Dad made the long drive back and forth every month to the infusion center, sitting in a crowded room for three hours at a time. The experience was miserable and so were his side effects. But what we hadn’t expected were the hurdles he encountered outside of his appointments. The weeks he waited to hear back on the referral. The back and forths between providers as they got the appropriate paperwork and prior authorization approvals in place. The missed phone calls to play scheduling Tetris. And the pages of medical jargon that left my Dad — who speaks English as a second language — confused and scared.

As someone who’s spent my career building and investing in healthcare startups, helping my Dad navigate his infusion treatments led me down a rabbit hole to understand how we can leverage technology to improve the infusion experience — to be more affordable, efficient, and better for patients.

New Year, more infusions, more effiencies

My Dad’s not alone. In 2024, more than 3.2 million Americans received infusion therapy.

Infusion providers are increasingly becoming an essential backbone for our complex and aging population, driven by a rise in chronic conditions that require specialty medications delivered through infusion therapy. There’s been a continued shift to and growth of outpatient infusion centers — an alternative to hospital-based infusions — that meet consumers’ demands for comfort and convenience, and payers’ desires for cost-effective site of care.

In this changing landscape, infusion providers are seeing new opportunities. I’ve talked to 20 infusion provider leaders over the past few months, and 80% mentioned they are acutely reconsidering their operational strategies in 2025, driven by downward margin pressures in payer rate decreases, increased labor costs, and new advancements in technology and AI.

But it can be hard to know where to start, in finding and comparing value propositions of new and incumbent tech vendors.

Opportunities to “infuse” tech into infusion operations

I built a free resource for infusion provider leaders as an easy starting point to search for tech vendors. Currently, there are 45+ vendors listed, vetted for their ability to impact providers’ bottom lines, drive new revenue, and ultimately help provide more, sustainable, quality patient care.

I also wanted to highlight three priority areas of opportunity for infusion providers to invest in optimizing, in delivering timely, appropriate, and cost-effective infusion care in 2025. Infusion providers should evaluate these opportunities and vendors when looking to:

  1. Get patients from referral to infusion faster and cheaper
  • Vendor categories: Referral management, Prior authorization
  1. Reduce the overhead costs of their contact centers without sacrificing quality
  • Vendor categories: Contact center, Patient scheduling
  1. Flip downward rate pressures from payers
  • Vendor categories: Payer rate transparency, Payer contracting

This list is meant to be a living resource. I’d love for it to start conversation. If you’d like more details as you evaluate your technology investments for 2025, or have any comments or suggestions, reach out: Email me or find me on Linkedin or book time here.

Category Definition
Referral Management Vendors that streamline the process of receiving, tracking, and managing patient referrals from other healthcare providers.
Prior Authorization Vendors that automate and simplify the process of obtaining insurance approval for infusion treatments, from end-to-end.
Patient Communications & Reminders Vendors that facilitate direct and automated messaging and appointment reminders to patients via various channels.
Patient Scheduling Vendors that simplify and optimize patient appointment scheduling.
Contact Center Vendors that manage and streamline patient inquiries and communications across multiple channels, such as call, text, and email.
Payer Contracting Vendors that assist in negotiating, managing, and optimizing contracts with insurance companies and other payers.
Workforce Optimization & Training Vendors that help optimize, retain, and train staff members at infusion center.
Task & Workflow Management Vendors that ensure the appropriate tasks get done by the appropriate team members and at the appropriate and optimal times.
Inventory Management Vendors that track and optimize medication and supply inventory in order to manage costs, reduce waste, and ensure availability.
Patient Portal Vendors that provide online platforms allowing patients to access their health information, communicate with providers, and manage appointments.
Patient Eligibility & Estimates Vendors that verify insurance coverage and provides cost estimates for treatments.
Claims & Billing Vendors that manage the entire billing cycle, from claim submission to payment reconciliation.
Clinical Documentation Vendors that facilitate accurate and efficient recording of patient care information in the patient chart, commonly for reimbursement purposes and care coordination with other team members.
Patient Financial Assistance Vendors that help identify and manage financial assistance programs for patients.
Marketing Vendors that help infusion centers promote their services, and attract and retain new patients via marketing efforts.
Reporting & Analytics Vendors that provide insights into operational performance, patient outcomes, and financial metrics of infusion centers.
Competitive Analysis Tools Vendors that help infusion centers benchmark their performance against competitors and industry standards.
Payer Rate Transparency Vendors that provide visibility into reimbursement rates across different payers, commonly to help with negotiating payer contracts.
Facility Design Vendors that assist in planning the layout and design of infusion centers for maximum efficiency.
Credentialing Vendors that manage the process of verifying and maintaining healthcare provider credentials.

This list is meant to be a living resource. I’d love for it to start conversation. If you’d like more details as you evaluate your technology investments for 2025, or have any comments or suggestions, reach out: Email me or find me on Linkedin or book time here.