In their own words.

I would like to write in support of AIMS Vascular Access and the concept of keeping our patients out of the Hospital, Emergency Rooms and Infusion Centers.

With AIMS Vascular Access we have been able to do that and save thousands of dollars and at the same time provide better care.

I am very much a veteran of this because I started the very first Home IV Antibiotic Program way back in March 1978 at Sacred Heart Hospital in Eugene, Oregon. Prior to that patients had to stay in the Hospital for ongoing IV therapy, sometimes for 4 to 6 weeks. We called this the Sacred Heart Infusion Team. Over the last 41 years this has benefitted many patients including my wife who developed Subacute Bacterial Endocarditis and had six weeks of IV therapy.

Now, I use that program almost every day but our biggest problem has been to get PICC lines placed. We previously had to send our patients to one of the hospitals for this placement at a cost of over $3,000! We often had to wait for up to a week because the schedule was always full to have PICC lines placed. We can get same day service at AIMS Vascular Access. We have saved the system thousands and thousands of dollars and provided better care.

My goal at Oak Street Medical is to provide better care at less cost. This is just another step in this process.

Our family used AIMS Vascular Access for in-home services for my elderly mother. AIMS provided services that would normally have been done at the hospital or the Emergency Room.

These at-home services enabled my frail mother to forgo the rigors of ambulance transportation, to remain in her home, and avoid the confusion of being in a hospital setting.

The AIMS team that came to her house to provide services such as IV infusions were all knowledgeable, patient, and kind. We highly recommend AIMS to anyone that needs the in-home services that they provide.

When I was approached to be the medical director of the AIMS Vascular Access company, I accepted the position without any hesitation. Before this new company was even formed, I had the pleasure to work with all of the founding members of this team at a local hospital where I was employed as a hospitalist and where they worked as members of the vascular access team. It was through this experience that I came to respect the skills and collaborative work ethics of the PICC team and their manager, Tammy Inglis-Drew, who is now the CEO of AIMS Vascular Access.

Their goal of bringing vascular access and other skilled-nursing procedures to the patient instead of the traditional way of visiting the hospital or infusion center, is very intuitive and helpful for the patients. This concept [of] patient-centered care enables ill patients, often with significant mobility issues, to comfortably stay in their preferred environment and avoid costly transport to the hospital, where wait times for services are often excessive, delaying the patient’s treatment, and where the cost of providing care is the most expensive. I share the idea that health care must change and evolve away from hospital-based care except for the most intensive patient needs. I, too, believe that healthcare can and should be patient-centered as well as cost-effective, and AIMS Vascular Access is working toward furthering that goal.

I really think that your facility, staff, and patients will benefit tremendously from this innovative and progressive way to deliver some aspects of health care to our community.