Letter to the Editor: The Benefits of Home Infusion

From Tess Artig-Brown BSN, MN; Director, Heart Failure Program, Option Care: "Betty MacNamee of North Point, Fla., is one of an estimated 5.7 million heart failure patients in the United States. To help Betty’s heart pump more effectively, her doctor put her on inotropic medication, which is administered intravenously in the comfort of her own home. This home infusion treatment, which is delivered 24/7, helps her and others with advanced heart failure breathe easier and be more active.

Ask Betty what this treatment means to her and she’ll tell you, “This is not some medication you take for
a headache. It’s what literally keeps me alive.”

I am privileged to oversee a home infusion program for patients like Betty and to see the difference
these therapies make in their lives. I am also deeply concerned about recent legislation that is taking
away access to these therapies for many vulnerable patients.

An unintended consequence of the 21st Century Cures Act, a new law that went into effect Jan. 1, 2017,
is a gap in Medicare coverage for certain home infusion services, which takes away funding for access to
high quality home infusion for many patients.

To address and correct this serious gap in coverage, Keep My Infusion Care at Home, which represents
the voice of concerned patients, families, caregivers, healthcare providers and other organizations, is
urging the U.S. Congress to immediately fix this oversight. Without a legislative solution, patients who
currently rely on home infusion care may lose that access, placing even greater demands on them, their
families and caregivers, as well as the healthcare systems at large.

As for Betty, 67, she has been through too many health challenges to lose her optimism now. It has
helped her through surgeries, stents, four rounds of brachytherapy and being rejected for a heart
transplant. She now has a port in her chest and the IV and inotropic medication resides in small
purse/fanny pack that Betty designed herself.

When she began receiving home infusion therapy about 2 ½ years ago, she started a scrapbook to
document her travel adventures. The scrapbook is already bulging with pictures and memories from
recent trips to Belize, Honduras and Mexico.

Betty is sharing her story because she wants others to add their voices to hers in urging Congress to take
action.

“I’m not finished living,” she says. “I’m going to make the most of this opportunity to live a normal life.”
To learn more about this issue and what you can do to help protect patient access to home infusion
therapy, please visit the Keep My Infusion Care at Home website at:
http://www.keepmyinfusioncarea.."

Photo courtesy of Keep My Infusion Care at Home