The Infusion Network of the Cape and Islands (INCI) involves both an old and a recent story.
It starts in 1974 when Paul E. Dussault founded the Falmouth Prescription Center, your basic community drug store. Over the years he added other products like home medical supplies and oxygen. Then, in 1995, he branched out again to provide IV therapy to home patients and regional health care facilities.
Next chapter.
As the IV business grew, Mr. Dussault split the company in two, creating a separate INCI entity. Other aspects of the business were sold. Only the pharmacy was retained under a new name, The Chemist Shoppe, but, with a single new mission, to compound prescriptions solely for its infusion clientele.
Mr. Dussault remains as president, but Karen Rowley, a certified pharmacy technician, came aboard as INCI’s Chief Executive Officer.
“It’s all about taking patients out of the hospitals (for infusion) into a safe setting,” Ms. Rowley explains. “We get referrals from physicians, hospitals and long-term care facilities as their patients are discharged, but still need IV therapy.”
Ms. Rowley, a Bourne native and former star athlete and field hockey coach, points out that INCI is “the Cape’s only infusion provider with a free-standing ambulatory infusion suite and also certified by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO).”
The staff of 10 provides service “in the clinic, the office or at home. Patients usually are surprised they can do this at home, rather than stay in a hospital. But, wherever, we’re here for them.”
IV therapy covers a wide range. Most patients are on a short-term antibiotic regimen to fight an infection. There are cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Patients who can’t eat are fed intravenously through what’s called Total Parenteral Nutrition (as opposed to Enteral Nutrition, the feeding tube). And there is pain management for hospice patients.
“We also provide some pediatric care,” Ms. Rowley says, recalling a seven-year-old who was able to continue in school while undergoing treatment for Lyme’s Disease.
These treatments are not inexpensive—$100 to $500 a day depending on the medication. Medicare, MassHealth and private insurance does exist, but the rules, regulations and restrictions on coverage are quite arcane and varied.
“Fortunately, as an independent company, we can work with our patients on the financial end,” Ms. Rowley says. “Like we’ll bill them separately for the drugs if they have that coverage and, if not, sometimes we can work with the drug companies themselves.”
INCI covers a broad area from Milton to Provincetown with a strong presence on the Lower Cape and Islands and can be reached at 508-548-4266 or 1-800-244-1227.