Chemotherapy at home: same care, more comfort

Home chemotherapy (HC) represents an opportunity to transition care for a subset of chemotherapy patients from the outpatient infusion center to their home. Not only do patients report feeling more comfortable receiving treatments in familiar surroundings, hospitals that provide HC may differentiate themselves from their competitors, potentially attracting new patients.

Until the 1980s, infusion therapy was administered almost exclusively in the hospital. However, over the past 3 decades, there has been a dramatic shift to the outpatient setting driven by pharmaceutical advancements, lower overall costs in outpatient clinics and increased convenience for patients. The emergence of HC is a natural continuation of this shift on a smaller scale, with the further potential to improve patient satisfaction and free up chair space and nursing resources for programs that are facing current or anticipated capacity or staff constraints.

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