NHIA 2025: Monday, March 31 Recap

Monday morning kicked off with a high-octane networking breakfast before the General Session. We were fortunate to hear from Dr. Mark McClellan, who was FDA Commissioner and CMS Administrator under the George W. Bush administration, who joined NHIA President and CEO Connie Sullivan for a fireside chat. At the start of the pandemic, NHIA coordinated with ASPR and McClellan at Duke‐Margolis Institute for Health Policy to expedite access to monoclonal antibodies for COVID patients.

“Post-pandemic there’s been a pull back to more traditional approaches of delivering care. In many ways, Medicare is still going by rules from 1965 when the program was established,” he observed. “It was disappointing to us that CMS wouldn’t make it easier for patients to get home infusion after they saw it’s a viable way to reach patients,” replied Sullivan. McClellan noted that home infusion is “winning on those fundamentals” and encouraged attendees to continue with efforts to pass legislation.

McClellan offered his outlook for approaching the Trump Administration, based on 3 things coming together for a realignment of government. “The number one priority is to view things through the lens of the budget priorities,” McClellan advised, noting the need to offset tax cuts with reductions in spending and use a reconciliation bill to push a single package through a slim majority in Congress. Other aspects include DOGE, which is one of the “new levers” that Trump 2.0 is using to reduce the size of government and the MAHA movement, which emphases that despite spending the most of any developed country on health care, the U.S. has the worst outcomes. “This is a challenging political environment, but this administration is not a fan of the fee-for-service,” he offered. “If reforms could be framed in a way that push person-centered care and support coordinated care models, they are more likely to be adopted.”

In other important areas, McClellan said the current drug pricing model is not sustainable. “A better purchasing model would offer a good return for pharmaceutical companies and at the same time make the drug available to all that need it.” Introducing AI to drug development as well as analysis of safety and effectiveness data is likely to increase the number of pipeline drugs and reduce the time to approval, he added.

We were also proud to honor Mitra Gavgani, PharmD as this year’s Gene Graves Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient for her near 2 decades of transforming the industry and her ability to inspire and empower professionals beyond the pharmacy and nursing fields. “Throughout my time in this industry, what has been a consistent fuel for me is the purpose and mission of what we do,” she said.

Infusion Policy Update
NHIA shared the latest relevant policy updates with attendees during a featured morning session, including reintroduction of the Preserving Patient Access to Home Infusion Act. Modeled after the commercial sector S-codes, the legislation would bundle supplies and services, which creates a billable daily service, and make anti-infectives eligible for coverage whether they are in Part B or D. The legislation would also ensure a 5-year transition that freezes the payment rate for nursing days at the current rate so payments can’t be eroded by a rate reduction and opens the door to adding more drugs under the benefit.

Noting that during the first half of the year, there’s a “crowding out effect” as Congress focuses on budgeting priorities. “We are working with our legislative champions now behind the scenes to advance the legislation later in the year when larger legislative packages are negotiated,” explained Shea McCarthy, NHIA’s Director of Legislative Affairs.

In the meantime, the legislative team will focus on being “ready for prime time,” according to McCarthy. That process involves building bipartisan support across a broad coalition, reengaging with CBO on scoring of the bill, and working through “regular order,” which includes a committee hearing, mark-up, and possibly a floor vote. “These steps will position us for success regardless of the balance of power.”

Sterile Compounding Clinic
The Sterile Compounding Clinic lab kicked off today as participants got hands-on training in a simulated clean room environment in an exclusive area in the NHIA Expo Hall. Participants alternate between this optional lab time and dedicated education by leading experts in the area.

Roundtable Discussions
NHIA’s popular Roundtable Discussions expanded into a larger ballroom to accommodate the more than 600 participants rotating between tables 4 times every 25-minutes while choosing between 40 unique and engaging topics led by an expert moderator. Every table was packed and the conversations were incredibly productive and informative. We heard great feedback about the knowledge sharing and connections enabled by this unique conference feature.

Education Highlights

In a variety of session types throughout the afternoon we learned and exchanged the latest ideas across 5 education tracks, from nursing to reimbursement. 

According to Judith Maggi, MSN, RN, Manager at Coram Nursing Training Operations, the average cost to orient a new nurse to home infusion is $40,000-$60,000. In “Precepting: Effectively Preparing Nurses for Home Infusion” we learned that a lack of direct supervision and limited hands-on experience are the biggest challenges to remote precepting, but nurses “need to ready for everything when they walk into a patient’s home,” says Maggi. When creating a precepting program, Maggi stresses: prioritizing essential skills, chucking related information together, fostering active engagement, setting clear objectives, anticipating challenges, providing consistent feedback, and focusing on competence, not time. “Leadership support is the essential element,” she adds. “We begin every program with an introduction from our Chief of Nursing so all participants understand how valuable they are to our company’s mission and delivering quality patient care.”

In “Making Metrics Meaningful: Moving from Raw Data to Practical Process Improvement,” Jeffrey Wassouf, PharmD, Director of home infusion and Compounding Pharmacies at Oregon Health and Science University explained that operational metrics should start with a goal and ask a question. “We are swimming in data. The opportunity is to take information and say what can we ask and where does it take us?” Wassouf the led an interactive activity where groups of attendees could discuss their own challenges and opportunities related to data and challenges to find meaningful metrics.

We also heard about a home infusion provider’s implementation of an artificial intelligence (AI) virtual care assistant. The assistant has helped to increase patient engagement and expand the organization’s service capabilities, providing the value of 2.2 FTEs in the first (beta) year after implementation. They are predicting an increase in efficiency in year two that would correlate to 36,000 patient outreaches, 26,000 engagements, and 9,000-15,000 hours reallocated or saved. Initial uses included providing patient outreach to new PN patients when arriving home and safety checks as well as infusion visit confirmations to avoid situations where patients would forget about appointments and not be home for a visit. The AI virtual caller can identify potential issues that may require human intervention based on patient response and then transfer the conversation to a live person. All of the data is also automatically and accurately recorded, something that would add to staff time and is always prone to errors when patient communications and responses have to be logged manually.

Elsewhere Around NHIA

In the exhibit hall, we kicked off sessions in the transformed Learning Lab that provides dynamic education in the heart of the NHIA Expo.

We closed the night with a fundraising event recognizing and supporting the great work of the National Home Infusion Foundation in the Gaylord Atrium with live music and great people.