A new benefit from Angle Health is bringing at-home infusion care to employees

• Key Insight: Learn how employer benefit partnerships enable at-home infusion care to reduce hospital reliance.
• What's at Stake: Cost and access gaps risk higher employer healthcare spend and workforce disruption.
• Supporting Data: Infusion therapy serves 3.2 million Americans, costing employers about $110 billion annually.
• Source: Bullets generated by AI with editorial review

As employers look for new ways to make their healthcare benefits as effective and affordable  as possible, two companies have partnered to bring infusion care closer to home.

Infusion therapy is commonly used to treat autoimmune diseases, cancers, infections, immune deficiencies and neurological disorders by delivering necessary medications directly into the bloodstream. Today, more than 3.2 million Americans receive infusion therapy annually, according to data from specialty care platform Lantern, accounting for more than 10% of employers' total medical spending and totaling $110 billion each year. 

To better support their employee base and help cut costs, healthcare benefit platform Angle Health partnered with specialty healthcare provider Leap Health to get employees the care they need, without having to go to a specialty center or hospital.  

"We looked across our members and their claims and asked, what can we create a better experience for?" says Caleb Parker, COO of Angle Health. "What is something that members are experiencing in traditional care pathways that could be better or more seamless." 

Read more: Specialty infusion drug costs are putting strain on healthcare spend

By partnering with Leap Health, Angle Health will offer expanded at-home infusion care options as part of their health coverage. The new benefit includes multiple care delivery models, such as a specially trained nurse or nurse practitioner administering treatment in an employee's home, while addressing any questions or concerns. Other employees may be referred to infusion clinics closer to home, expanding access to locations that may not have previously been covered.

"Many of the people that are getting these infusions don't necessarily have the benefit of living in an urban or a suburban area with a nearby hospital facility," Parker says. "For those members in rural areas, receiving life empowering infusions is significant and makes a huge difference in their quality of life." 

For members who live near their infusion sites or already have a system that works for them, the goal is not to disrupt that routine, Parker says. Whether their care is delivered through point solutions with third-party administrators, prior authorizations or more tightly managed HMO models the goal remains the same: To inform and support employees.

Keeping employees healthy — and productive

Oftentimes infusions are a long, arduous process and employees will need time off to travel or recover from treatment. An at-home option can improve the risk of absenteeism, turnover and disengagement, Parker says. Employees will also have more flexibility to fit care into their schedules. 

"Many employees either don't have other alternatives or don't know where to find them," Parker says. "Our first and primary goal here is provide them with the access to more solutions, and additionally, partner with them to ensure that they have the help they need to figure the process out." 

Read more: Rising costs turn financial strain into a way of life for workers

Investing in diverse healthcare options

Angle Health's expanded approach to infusion care reflects a broader workplace trend toward diversifying care pathways for employees. Traditional benefits such as vision, dental, and general medical coverage are no longer sufficient on their own. To remain relevant and competitive — and to meet the expectations of future workforces that increasingly demand more specialized support — employers will need to supplement those core benefits with a wider range of targeted healthcare solutions.

"We chose infusions because it's a path that we saw many of our members taking," Parker says. "But that doesn't mean that it's the only path. Depending on what your workforce needs, there's still a number of opportunities for diverse coverage out there." 

Parker urges leaders to take a closer look at their healthcare data and compare those findings with offerings from other platforms, solutions or even supplementary benefits already offered by benefit providers and fill that niche. He also suggests that benefit managers pair those efforts with more intense educational resources as the workforce adjusts to change. 

"We live in a country where health literacy is very low," Parker says. "It's important for us as their care providers to research those options and remove that burden of discovering new care pathways and do it in a way that is easy and natural to them.