The infusion center: a model for outpatient parenteral antibiotic therapy.

Outpatient parenteral treatment of infectious diseases has developed from primitive beginnings to its present state as the standard of care in many areas. The large infusion center described here is headed by physicians who specialize in infectious diseases and occupies a free-standing building where the pharmacy, laboratory, physicians' offices, examination rooms, and finance departments are centralized for efficiency, flexibility, and convenience. Each patient is seen by a physician, pharmacist, and nurse; these health care professionals share data about the patient and offer 24-hour coverage of questions and emergencies. Treating a wide variety of diseases, physicians utilize their experience and the center's intercommunication system to choose drugs most suitable for outpatient use and to carry on research. Costs in the center run between 50% and 60% lower than those in the hospital. Reimbursement, although difficult in the past, has improved considerably, but some third-party payers, including Medicare, have not reimbursed for outpatient intravenous antibiotic therapy.