How to Open an Infusion Clinic: Licenses, NPI and Payers
Independent infusion clinics have grown fast because insurers prefer them to hospitals. Opening one is mostly a licensing, contracting and referral problem, not a real estate one.
The Checklist
- Form the entity and decide the ownership model: physician-owned, nurse practitioner-led where allowed, or a management company with a medical director.
- Get an organizational NPI with taxonomy 261QI0500X (Clinic/Center, Infusion Therapy). That is how patients and directories find you.
- Check your state's licensing: some states license ambulatory infusion centers, others treat you as a physician office.
- Enroll with Medicare and contract with the big commercial payers in your market. This takes months, so start first.
- Set up drug purchasing (specialty distributors, buy-and-bill) and decide which drugs you will stock.
- Hire infusion nurses and a prior authorization specialist before you open.
- Build referral relationships with gastroenterology, rheumatology, neurology and gynecology practices nearby.
Where to Open
Look for markets where Medicare infusion spending is high relative to the number of registered clinics. Our State of Infusion Access report ranks every state on that measure.
Get Found
Claim your free listing here so patients searching by city and drug can find you, and post your nursing jobs on InfusionJobs.