Home Infusion Pump: Definition, Benefits, Types, and How to Choose

Hospitals have never been anyone’s preferred place to be, especially not for long periods. However, for patients with acute or chronic health problems, long-term hospitalization is often required to undergo treatments with specialized equipment such as infusion pumps.

To reduce hospital stays and financial strains for patients needing prolonged infusion therapy, patients and healthcare providers are opting more and more for home infusion pumps.

Going by the 2020 NHIF Infusion Industry Trends Report, this growing preference for home infusion pumps is responsible for the exponential expansion of the home and specialty infusion market to a staggering $19 billion and for over 3 million patients each year.

As you will read in this post, deciding on home infusion therapy has several benefits for patients requiring post-acute care.

But before listing these benefits, a quick description of what is a home infusion pump is opportune. Later, you will find an overview of the types of home infusion pumps and administration methods and a guide to choosing what home infusion pump or administration method works best for which patient.

A home infusion pump is a medical device used to intravenously or subcutaneously deliver medications or nutritional fluids to a patient at their home.

Usually, a home infusion provider supplies the home infusion pump used in home infusion therapy. Home infusion providers are closed-door pharmacies licensed by the state and must satisfy the requirements of state pharmacy boards and the standards set by third-party health insurance providers.

Providing home infusion therapy also requires the provider to comply with the USP <797> standards. These standards guide the preparation of compounded sterile products, which must be handled in an ISO 5 environment or better (<5) in terms of environment control and cleanliness (1 is the cleanest and 9 is the dirtiest).

The standards also govern the Beyond Use Date for the risk of contamination of sterile compounds (14 days for low-risk compounds, 9 for medium-risk, and 3 for high-risk).

Home infusion pump usage is common among patients with acute or chronic illnesses who need consistent infusion therapy with antibiotics, analgesics, chemotherapy drugs, hydration fluids, and immunoglobulins.

Home and patient expert assessments are required before a patient is eligible for home infusion therapy. Consequently, a home infusion provider comes in to help patients make a seamless transition from hospital to home care.

Without the option for home IV pumps, these patients would have to make regular hospital visits or be hospitalized for long periods.

Before the introduction of home infusion pumps, patients with acute and chronic health conditions had to stay hospitalized for as long as they needed infusion therapy. This implied high hospital costs, among other disadvantages.

With the introduction of home infusions, patients can now enjoy the following home infusion therapy benefits:

Patients can choose from several home infusion pumps or infusion therapy administration modes. These include:

This is a rapid IV administration method used with small drug volumes. The drug is pushed into the patient’s vein from a syringe through an IV catheter, and the administration only takes a few minutes. The majority of patients prefer the IV push for its quick administration and ease of use.

This infusion administration method entails perforating an IV bag with a flow regulator tube and hanging it on an IV pole so the drug or fluid flows into the patient’s vein by gravity. The patient can regulate the flow rate using a dial on the tubing.

This method is best with infusion fluids not regulated by the USP <797>.

Home care elastomeric pumps are single-use devices that deliver medication to a patient’s circulatory system through the pressure created by an elastomeric balloon. The balloon contracts to send the drug into the tubing, and a flow restrictor controls the flow rate.

The tubing connects to the patient through an IV catheter, and infusion initiates automatically once the patient opens the line.

Continuous Ambulatory Delivery Devices or CADD pump for home IV infusion is an infusion pump option that aids the automatic delivery of IV drugs while allowing the patient to move around freely during infusion. The drug reservoir is attached to the pump through the tubing, and the patient can follow instructions on the pump interface to initiate infusion. A common type of CADD is the chemo home infusion pump.

Stationary home infusion pumps work like ambulatory pumps but are heavier and less portable. The patient or infusion therapy provider agent connects the infusion bag to the pump through the delivery tubing, and the dosage and flow rates are programmed to run automatically.

These are large volumetric pumps, like the Autoinfu which can deliver IV infusions at high rates of 1000mL/hour or more.

When choosing between these types of home infusion pumps and infusion administration modes, patients and infusion therapy providers consider several factors as explained below.

To reap the benefits of home infusion therapy, patients must decide on the best administration method or type of home infusion pump. This decision happens in collaboration with the healthcare provider and home infusion provider.

Four key factors aid the decision of which home infusion pump or administration mode is best for the patient:

Medication stability considers whether the infusion drug is a low or high-risk compound, as this determines how often to ship it to the patient. For example, high-risk compounds like ampicillin must be used within 3 days and are less stable because they are delivered several times a week. These are usually infused with elastomeric balls.

Dose administration frequency can vary with medication type and determine which home infusion pump is best. For example, a patient may prefer an elastomeric pump for a drug that is infused every 8 hours. However, if the drug is infused every six hours, the patient may go for an ambulatory pump to avoid having to stay put at home or waking up at night.

Some infusion administration modes can be pricier than others depending on the infusion therapy provider, the type of home infusion pump, the administration modality used, and the accessories used with it. Using elastomeric and stationary pumps costs more than using gravity and IV push administration methods.

Patients will go for the infusion administration mode that’s most comfortable for them. This facilitates the success of the infusion therapy. The Primer on Home Infusion Administration Methods suggests that most patients prefer elastomeric devices and intravenous push because the first is easy to operate and the second is quick to administer.

Using home infusion pumps is becoming more common because it is more cost-effective than long-term hospitalization. Besides, receiving infusion therapy at home allows patients to continue their life and work.
When choosing a home infusion pump, patients should consult with their infusion therapy provider and healthcare provider to determine what works best for the type of infusion drug or fluid.