An explosion of new and innovative biologic drugs has improvedthe quality of life for patients suffering from a wide array ofchronic illnesses.

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The breakthrough treatments for autoimmune conditions such asCrohn’s disease are a blessing for patients, a boon to society, anda benefit for businesses now able to tap into a pool of talentedindividuals whose illness-related disabilities would have presentedsevere workplace challenges just a generation ago.

But these transformative treatments come at a high price foremployers. Self-insured employers must bear the cost ofboth higher premiums for expensive medications, and productivitylosses for employees who require frequent, offsite drug infusiontreatments.

But employee benefit managers — who must make hard choices aboutthe value of adding additional benefits — can now take a proactiveapproach to helping patients better manage their chronicconditions, without increasing the bottom line of the company’shealth care benefits.

What’s more, they can also minimize treatment disruptions andhelp workers to keep symptoms at bay and stay productive atwork.

Until now, most patients who needed infusion treatments would goto a hospital to receive them.

Hospital-based infusion clinics are expensive, inconvenient anddownright unpleasant for the patient. Imagine a large, stark, whiteroom with chairs all around the perimeter. No privacy, no room fora friend or family member to help pass the time, and limitedparking are just a few of the hassles associated with the typicalhospital-based infusion center.

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Some patients do receive infusions in their doctor’s office. Butonly a small percentage of specialists offer these services, onlyto their own patients, and only during limited physician officehours.

Infusion drug solutions to benefit both patients andpayers

But now, there are emerging alternatives. Companies like Cerner,a $15 billion, 18,000-employee health care technology company, areamong the vanguard of companies that are choosing to direct theirpatients to community-based infusion sites that offer high qualityhealthcare at a lower price point and in a much moreconsumer-friendly environment.

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Employees in Cerner’s Kansas City headquarters and theirsuburban Philadelphia offices have a new benefit that enables themto seek infusion therapy in a freestanding, concierge-like infusionclinic.

These clinics offer free high-speed Wi-Fi to help patients getsome work done remotely and offer evening and weekend appointmentsthat make skipping work for treatments unnecessary.

Cerner expects to reduce total absenteeism at their KansasCity-area facilities by approximately 5,000 hours annually.

The relative low cost of freestanding infusion centers also willhelp reduce Cerner’s spend on specialty pharmacy, which for manylarge self-insured employers accounts for up to 40 percent of theirtotal pharmacy spend. For payers, the savings are even morepronounced.

Hospital infusion clinics can be as much as four times asexpensive as a freestanding clinic — a gulf that led UnitedHealthcare recently to require prior authorization forhospital-based infusions for inflammatory conditions.

Cerner, and other companies, have realized there is an importantrole to play for employers to improve medication adherence, both tosupport workers and to protect the company’s bottom line.

Workers who receive their infusions as prescribed are lesslikely to contribute to absenteeism, or “presenteeism,” whereworkers are physically at work but aren’t feeling well enough to betruly productive. In addition, patients who need these specialtydrugs are often among the biggest contributors to a self-insuredcompany’s health care costs, thanks to the high cost of both thedrugs themselves, and the hospital-based infusion clinics wheremost patients currently receive these infusion treatments.

Take a proactive approach to improve quality of lifeand the bottom line

If your company doesn’t yet have workers taking infusion drugs,it’s likely just a matter of time. Let’s look at Crohn’s disease,for instance.

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There are 700,000 Americans with this debilitatinggastrointestinal condition, and most are diagnosed between the agesof 15 and 35.

Indeed, many of the conditions that can be treated with infusiondrugs, including lupus, multiple sclerosis and ulcerative colitis,tend to strike people in the prime of their careers, and must beactively managed with medications throughout an individual’s life.Often, infusion drugs are prescribed after other, more convenienttreatments have failed. So, medication adherence is crucial tominimize relapses of serious symptoms.

Patients taking infusion treatments are looking for betteroptions to minimize their time in a hospital setting and to betterintegrate their treatments into their busy lives. Luckily,community-based infusion treatment centers are not only moredesirable for patients, but they make a tremendous amount of sensefor employers, since they are less expensive and often closer towork or home than the hospital. This helps minimize the amount ofpaid or unpaid leave workers need to take to head off relapses thatcould cost even more lost work time.

Many of the decisions that benefits professionals must make are“either/or” scenarios — should we reduce the value of the healthplan, or increase the premium? Should we invest in workplacefitness challenges or offer gym membership subsidies?

But a decision to embrace community-based infusion centersallows companies to improve quality of life for workers living withlifelong chronic conditions, reduce specialty drug spend, reduceabsenteeism and improve productivity by improving medicationadherence.

As workers have more skin in the game in terms of higher copays,deductibles and coinsurance, they are demanding better options forhealth care delivery, and patients who need infusion treatments areno exception.

The market, in recent years, has seen the rise ofcommunity-based oncology centers and dialysis clinics, to helppatients living with cancer and kidney disease to keep as muchnormalcy in their life as possible and diminish their condition’simpact on their time at work, at home with family, or out withfriends.