For those suffering from a chronic illness or a health condition, which requires infusion treatments or injections, traveling back and forth to the hospital can often be exhausting and time consuming. Since urgent care facilities have become quite popular throughout the years, doctors and those in the healthcare industry are looking for new alternatives to treat patients who need medicine out side of the hospital.
Specialty Infusion, a collaboration between QuickRx Specialty Pharmacy and Cure Urgent Care, was launched almost two years ago by cofounders Elan Katz, a registered pharmacist, and Dr. Jake Deutsch. The creation of these centers was spearheaded by their combined extensive medical and operational experience. Together the two were created five state-of-the-art centers located in the New York-Metro area.
“We saw the need to create outpatient Infusion Therapy offices to provide medications to those with chronic disease,” Deutsch, said. “We are growing rapidly in response to the need for an alternative site of care from the hospital. We [currently] have six offices and planning another six in 2020.”
Deutsch attended the University of Massachusetts Medical School and is board-certified in emergency medicine. He practiced at Hackensack Medical Center in New Jersey and was also ranked the highest in-patient care and satisfaction. Katz earned his pharmacy degree from LIU Post in 1996 and has more than twenty years of healthcare leadership excellence.
“We wanted to elevate the standard of infusion therapy,” Deutsh said. “Using forward thinking and being particularly sensitive to the high cost of heath care, we conceived Specialty Infusion to bring this rapidly growing division of healthcare into the 21st century. Personally, I love taking exceptional care of patients and have instilled this to the entire Specialty Infusion team.”
The centers offer more than 50 medications that range from biologics to immunotherapy, to IV iron. Some of the more common ones are Entyvio, Remicade, Rituxin, Ocrevus and IVIG. For patients being treated with any of these medications they simply have to ask their doctor to send the prescription and some clinical information to Specialty Infusion for your therapy.
All of the centers are monitored closely with patient safety as the number one priority. The center primarily uses nurse practitioners who are highly specialized in administering IV medications. The clinical team is highly trained in recognizing potential reactions and with higher lever of clinical nursing, they are able to assess and treat a patient immediately should there be any problem.
“At Specialty Infusion we administer the treatment, which is recommended by each patients specialist, whether is a GI, neurologist or rheumatologist” Deutsch said. “Patients come to us as a critical part of their therapy and are able to avoid the hospital. We have created beautiful facilities that are private and ultra comfortable. Our patients appreciate avoiding overcrowded hospital centers where patients are critically ill. Additionally, we offer nights and weekends to fit the therapy into everyones busy schedule.”
The center is also equipped to handle infusion and injection treatments as a lower-cost alternative to the treatment you may get at a hospital or through a home infusion provider. Specialty Infusion centers offer treatment all year round and the center is equipped to treat a wide range of conditions.
“Patients need to know they have a choice,” Deutsch said. “They don’t have to go to the hospital to get infusions.”
Specialty Infusion has also created an environment that is all about patient comfort, convince and safety. Each center has pods set up for the patients therapy, which are like a first class airline lounge. Each of the rooms are equipped with iPads, snacks, WiFi and warming blankets. Medications are mixed on site so there is no delay in starting the treatment. Often hospital centers are pressured to prioritize the cancer patients who may run long treatments that bumps other appointments. The team at specialty infusion uses convenient texting for scheduling and the coordination team completes a thorough investigation of benefits before the treatment.
Along with the convenience of visiting these centers, is the numerous cost-saving programs and lower prices, which can reduce healthcare costs and hold down premiums. The center works closely with all drug manufacturers co-pay assistance programs so the all out of pocket expenses are covered. Hospitals charge facility fees for infusion treatments that can be in upwards of $10,000 just for being an inpatient. These fees are in addition to the medications, which can also be thousands of dollars. Specialty Infusion does not bill for the facility, therefore patients and their insurance are saving thousands of dollars each visit, which for most patients is every four to six weeks. The team at Specialty Infusion will work to their patients can schedule their treatments when they need and want them.
For more information about Specialty Infusion or where you can find a nearby location, visit
www.specialtyinfusion.com. For questions or patient inquiries, call 212-776-9090 or email info@specialtyinfusion.com.
