Key Messages

• The number of IV infusion therapies approved in Canada is on the rise, with several in the pipeline for potential future approval.
• To assess Canadian health system readiness to implement these new drugs, CADTH has conducted a web search to determine the locations of privately funded IV infusion clinics across the country.
• To our knowledge, this is the first inventory of private IV infusion clinic locations in Canada.
• Understanding the scope and scale of private infusion clinic availability will be of value to decision-makers who are funding and implementing new IV treatments.
• Moving forward, a coordinated system for tracking, maintaining, and communicating IV infusion clinic information across the country is required.

Context

With the number of IV infusion therapies currently approved in Canada on the rise, and several in the pipeline for potential future approval, CADTH is assessing the readiness of the Canadian health care system to effectively implement these drugs. To the best of our knowledge there is currently no national registry of IV infusion clinics in Canada, and there has been no systematic way to capture data surrounding IV infusion clinics to date. Information regarding the location, number, and type of drug offerings at clinics across the country can be difficult to obtain. Data about publicly funded IV infusion clinics is particularly difficult to acquire, given the varying health system structures across and within each jurisdiction. Information about privately funded clinics is more readily available, but no collective summary of this information seems to exist. One source often cited is a Globe and Mail article from 2018, which indicates that “there are more than 350 private infusion centres across Canada that provide IV drugs to patients with diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease and multiple sclerosis, among others”.¹ A listing of IV infusion centres or their locations was not included in the article.

Objectives

As a first step to determine health system readiness to implement new and potentially upcoming IV infusion drugs, CADTH has collected information on the locations of privately funded IV infusion clinics across the country. Understanding the scope and scale of available private infusion clinics will be of value to decision-makers who are funding and implementing new IV treatments.

Methods

Information in this document was collected via a formal web search of privately funded IV infusion clinics across the country. Many large IV infusion companies include an up-to-date listing of IV infusion clinics locations on their websites. We also reached out to representatives from companies to verify information and was able to confirm that data from Innomar Strategics (AmerisourceBergen) and Bayshore Health care was up-to-date and accurate. The information included in this report was accurate per the publicly listed information on each company’s website as of February 2022.

Results

CADTH was able to locate a total of 423 privately funded IV infusion clinic locations in Canada. These clinics offer treatment for a variety of conditions including, but not limited to, Cancer, Crohn disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Psoriasis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Ulcerative Colitis.

Innomar Strategics had the highest number of locations across Canada (158), followed by Coverdale (BioScript Solutions) (105), Bayshore Health care (76), INVIVA (McKesson) (75), Servir Plus (7), and other individual clinics (2). (Figure 1)

Figure 1

Distribution of Private Infusion Clinics by Company or Organization.

Ontario has the highest number of IV infusion clinics at 136 (32%), followed by Quebec at 99 (23%), British Columbia at 49 (12%), Alberta at 48 (11%), New Brunswick at 28 (7%), Nova Scotia at 23 (5%), Newfoundland and Labrador at 13 (3%), Saskatchewan at 11 (3%), Manitoba at 10 (2%), Prince Edward Island at 5 (1%), and Yukon at 1 (< 1%). There were no private IV infusion clinics found in Northwest Territories or Nunavut (Figure 2).

Figure 2

Distribution of Private IV Infusion Clinics by Jurisdiction.

A full list of private clinics including name, address, city, and province can be found below in Table 1.

Table 1

Private IV Infusion Clinic Locations Across Canada.

Discussion

To our knowledge, this is the first inventory of private IV infusion clinic locations in Canada. Moving forward, a coordinated system for tracking, maintaining, and communicating IV infusion clinic information across the country is required. Although we now have a preliminary list of privately funded IV clinic locations across Canada, we have neither captured which drugs are offered at each location, nor for which indication. The addition of this information would be invaluable in helping to assess the distribution, availability, and uptake of each drug for each indication within Canada. In addition, location of and drug availability at publicly funded IV infusion clinic locations in Canada remains unknown and must be documented. We will continue to collect and communicate further relevant information surrounding IV infusion clinics as it becomes available. We invite collaboration with any groups who may be able to provide further information.

Limitations

This document summarizes information identified through a web search of privately funded IV infusion clinics across the country. Due to the nature of this web search, it is possible that some information (particularly regarding smaller and/or individual private clinic companies) may be missing. As such, we intend for this document to be evergreen, and invite suggestions for edits (additions or deletions of no longer relevant information) on an ongoing basis. Please reach out to the CADTH Real-World Evidence team at ac.htdac@EWR if you have any information that may enhance this report.

References

1.

Grant K. Oversight gap at private infusion clinics poses health risk, Ontario documents say. The Globe and Mail. 2018. https://www​.theglobeandmail​.com/canada/article-oversight-gap-at-private-infusion-clinics-poses-health-risk-ontario/. Accessed 17 Jun 2022.

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About CADTH: CADTH is an independent, not-for-profit organization responsible for providing Canada’s health care decision-makers with objective evidence to help make informed decisions about the optimal use of drugs, medical devices, diagnostics, and procedures in our health care system.

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