Leadership Health Care (LHC), a Nashville Health Care Council program for emerging leaders, Cohorts provide the participants an opportunity to engage in a peer mentoring program facilitated by an experienced healthcare executive. Throughout six cohort sessions, participants discuss substantive topics around a common focus area to enhance their knowledge and leadership skills.
In a recent conversation with participants in the Nashville Health Care Council's LHC Finance Cohort, William Seibels, President & CFO, IVX Health shared an in-depth look at how his team approaches strategic partnerships, evaluates capital backing, and navigates the complexities of growth in the retail health space—specifically infusion care.
Choosing Capital Partners: Do Your Homework
Seibels emphasized that when evaluating private equity or capital partners, diligence is about more than just funding—it’s about philosophy, alignment, and track record. His team actively researches prospective partners by going beyond provided references. They reach out to past CEOs and CFOs—especially those no longer affiliated with the firm—to better understand how the partner behaves when growth opportunities arise or when challenges hit.
“Board dynamics matter,” Seibels noted. It’s not just about whether a fund can support the business financially, but how they work with a team during both good times and bad. Assessing their ability to collaborate, make fast decisions, and manage expectations across multiple investor groups is essential to ensuring long-term success.
Retail Health: A Model That Just Makes Sense
The company's focus is on infusion services in a retail setting—an approach that delivers a clear value proposition. The model meets the needs of multiple stakeholders:
The typical patient is active, requires regular infusions (7–8 times per year), and values convenience. Instead of navigating the complexities of a hospital system, patients can walk into a retail location and be seated in minutes.
Importantly, Seibels pointed out that the company avoids a select set of infusion services—like chemotherapy—that are better suited to other settings of care. This strategic focus allows them to build a scalable, efficient model that fills a gap in the care continuum without displacing essential acute services.
Understanding Health System Dynamics
Early on, the team was uncertain how traditional health systems would respond to a retail infusion model. However, over time, they found that many systems saw the model as complementary rather than competitive.
Why? In many cases, health systems don’t have the capacity or infrastructure to serve all eligible patients. And for employed providers, referring outside the system—particularly to a competing specialist—can mean losing the patient altogether. Partnering with a neutral, high-quality infusion provider often proves to be the better alternative.
Revenue Cycle: A Hidden Growth Engine and Risk
The infusion business is deeply tied to the intricacies of revenue cycle management. Drugs in this space are extremely expensive—some infusions cost more than $50,000 per visit—making proper reimbursement essential.
According to Seibels, the company spends a significant amount of time on relationship-building with payers, managing prior authorizations, and addressing claim denials. The business has had to invest heavily in billing and collections infrastructure. While this administrative overhead is substantial, Seibels sees it as a differentiator—and even a competitive advantage—given how difficult it is for others to manage.
He also noted that many community-based doctors have been forced to stop offering infusions because they simply can't carry the financial risk of nonpayment. That’s another area where his team sees opportunity to help providers serve patients without risking their own viability.
Scaling the Right Way
Seibels explained that while their company primarily grows through de novo expansion, they’re increasingly open to acquisitions—particularly when they see opportunities to add value. For example, they’ve acquired underperforming centers, improved their revenue cycle operations (a known strength of theirs), leveraged better drug purchasing contracts, and upgraded facilities to enhance performance. Given the current market environment—with more institutional investors reaching the end of their investment cycles—Seibels noted there's a rising opportunity for consolidation. However, the team remains disciplined, only pursuing deals where they see clear synergy and strategic fit.
When it comes to selecting markets, Seibels emphasized a preference for expanding in places where they already operate. These locations offer existing infrastructure, referral relationships, and payer contract coverage. That said, they also maintain a pipeline of about 15 targeted markets and add approximately four new ones each year, driven by payer contract opportunities and local market needs. Even in their largest, most concentrated markets, Seibels noted that growth remains strong, largely due to the chronic nature of conditions they treat, the continual emergence of new therapies, and the reputation IVX has built in these markets.
Navigating Regulatory Uncertainty and Unlocking Growth in Infusion Care
Seibels also addressed the regulatory headwinds shaping the future of infusion care. The Inflation Reduction Act presents potential challenges, particularly around drug pricing under the medical benefit, though its full impact won’t take effect until 2028. Tariffs remain a moving target, with limited clarity even among major policy teams, prompting a measured, wait-and-see approach. Advocacy remains central, with industry leaders collaborating on Capitol Hill to protect access and advance site-of-care priorities. Despite these uncertainties, Seibels sees significant opportunity ahead—from deepening manufacturer partnerships and supporting market launches to collaborating with health systems and employers.
Final Thoughts: Scaling with Strategy and Purpose in Retail Health
William Seibels and the IVX Health team offer a powerful case study in how to grow a healthcare business thoughtfully. One rooted in alignment, operational excellence, and a deep understanding of both patient needs and market dynamics. Their approach to capital partnerships, selective expansion and revenue cycle reflects a discipline not often seen in fast-scaling healthcare ventures.
By focusing on infusion services that complement, rather than compete with, traditional health systems, IVX is carving out a durable position in the healthcare ecosystem. And as regulatory shifts and payer dynamics continue to evolve, their clarity of focus - on the right partners, the right markets, and the right growth opportunities stands out as a model for others in retail health.
Leadership Health Care’s mission is to cultivate talented healthcare professionals into the industry leaders of tomorrow. LHC aims to provide young professionals with ongoing opportunities to develop their knowledge of the healthcare industry through educational events and networking opportunities. Fill out this form to learn more about LHC.