Moving your infliximab infusions from one center to another is an administrative transfer, not a change in treatment. Infliximab, sold as Remicade and as the biosimilars Inflectra, Renflexis and Avsola plus unbranded infliximab, is provider-administered: the prescriber order, the drug supply and the insurance authorization all attach to the site that infuses you, so each has to be re-established when the site changes.
This article covers what transfers, what has to be re-issued, how the transfer fits around a fixed maintenance interval, and what to have ready before calling any infusion center. For the therapy itself, see our Remicade and infliximab treatment page.
Why Do People Move Their Infliximab Infusions to a New Infusion Center?
The reasons patients give are practical. A new job or a new health plan changes which providers are in network. A move across the city or out to Long Island turns a short trip into a long one. Hospital outpatient departments bill infusions differently from freestanding infusion suites. Appointment availability differs from site to site. Some patients simply want a chair closer to home, or closer to whoever drives them.
Health plans also take a position on where infusions happen. UnitedHealthcare's commercial site-of-care policy 2026D0121V, effective August 1, 2026, lists Remicade, Inflectra, Renflexis and Avsola in scope and describes non-hospital outpatient infusion, physician offices and ambulatory infusion suites as "well accepted places of service for medication infusion therapy." Whether it applies to you depends on your own plan. What the setting does to the bill is covered in our article on why the same infusion costs more at a hospital.
What Actually Has to Transfer to the New Infusion Center?
A transfer is a records handoff plus a fresh coverage check. A receiving center cannot infuse infliximab on the strength of a phone call; it needs a current order and enough of your record to dose you safely and bill correctly. The Medicare contractor billing article for infliximab and biosimilars, Article A52423, expects the chart to document patient weight, because dosing is in milligrams per kilogram, and that tuberculosis evaluation and treatment was initiated before therapy.
| What the new center needs | Where it comes from | Why it is needed |
|---|---|---|
| Current order naming the product, mg/kg dose and interval | Your prescribing physician | Orders do not carry over |
| Infusion history, last dose and its date | The center you are leaving | Sets when the next dose is due |
| Latent tuberculosis screening result and date | Prescriber or previous center | Required by the boxed warning before and during therapy |
| Infusion-reaction history and premedication orders | The center you are leaving | Determines what is given beforehand |
Does a New Center Need a New Prescription for Your Specific Infliximab Product?
Yes. The order that authorizes your infusion belongs to the site giving it, so a new order has to be issued to the new center, and it names one product rather than infliximab in general. According to the FDA's list of licensed biosimilar products, no infliximab biosimilar carries an interchangeability designation; Inflectra, Renflexis and Avsola are listed as 351(k) biosimilars. New York's biological substitution statute, Education Law section 6816-a, applies only where an interchangeable product exists, so it does not reach infliximab.
If the product on the new order would differ from what you have been receiving, that is a conversation with your prescriber and your plan before you move. Prime Infusions administers Remicade and the biosimilars Inflectra, Renflexis and Avsola, as well as unbranded infliximab, and does not recommend one product over another. Unbranded infliximab marketed by Janssen Biotech is an unbranded version of Remicade rather than a biosimilar.
Why Does the New Infusion Center Ask About Your Tuberculosis Screening?
Because the FDA-approved labeling requires it. Every infliximab product carries a boxed warning headed WARNING: SERIOUS INFECTIONS and MALIGNANCY. The REMICADE prescribing information, revised February 2025, states that patients treated with REMICADE "are at increased risk for developing serious infections that may lead to hospitalization or death," and that "Patients should be tested for latent tuberculosis before REMICADE use and during therapy. Treatment for latent infection should be initiated prior to REMICADE use." Testing during therapy is the half that a transfer can disrupt.
The same boxed warning covers invasive fungal and other opportunistic infections, and malignancy: lymphoma and other malignancies, some fatal, have been reported in children and adolescent patients treated with TNF blockers, and postmarketing cases of hepatosplenic T-cell lymphoma, a rare and aggressive lymphoma that has been fatal, have occurred mostly in adolescent and young adult males with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis also receiving azathioprine or 6-mercaptopurine. Article A52423 also requires documentation that tuberculosis evaluation and treatment was initiated before therapy, making the screening record both a safety and a coverage requirement.
How Does a Transfer Fit Inside Your Infliximab Dosing Interval?
Infliximab maintenance runs on a fixed interval, and the transfer has to fit inside it. The REMICADE prescribing information sets maintenance at 5 mg/kg every 8 weeks for adult and pediatric Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, psoriatic arthritis and plaque psoriasis; at 3 mg/kg every 8 weeks for rheumatoid arthritis, which is indicated in combination with methotrexate; and every 6 weeks for ankylosing spondylitis. Your own dose and interval are set by your prescriber.
A receiving center therefore works backwards from your next scheduled dose, not forwards from the day you call. Records and the new order come first, then benefit verification, then the authorization request if your plan needs one, then a scheduled chair. Because the authorization step is decided by your health plan, no infusion provider can honestly quote a turnaround time. Start while you still have a dose ahead of you, and keep your existing appointment until the new center confirms a date.
Will You Need a New Prior Authorization at the New Site of Care?
Often, yes. Authorizations for provider-administered drugs are commonly issued for a named servicing provider, site of care and sometimes product, so a change of site can require a new request. UnitedHealthcare's commercial medical benefit drug policy 2026D0004AR, effective February 1, 2026, names Inflectra and Avsola as its preferred products and requires, for a non-preferred infliximab, documentation of "a trial of at least 14 weeks of Inflectra or Avsola resulting in minimal clinical response to therapy," or of intolerance or contraindication to them. Cigna's Preferred Specialty Management Policy PSM005, effective August 15, 2026, also lists Avsola and Inflectra as preferred and Remicade, Renflexis and infliximab (authorized generic) as non-preferred.
Those are the payers' own commercial designations, not a clinical ranking, and preferred lists change. Coverage is determined by your plan. Denials and appeals are covered in our article on infliximab prior authorization denials and appeals.
What Does Prime Infusions Do When You Transfer Your Infliximab Infusions?
Prime Infusions verifies your benefits, submits the prior authorization request together with your prescribing physician, and coordinates the records handoff with your prescriber and the center you are leaving: infusion history, the date of your most recent dose, latent tuberculosis screening status and any premedication orders. Prime Infusions cannot promise that a plan will approve a request, or say how long a plan will take to decide one.
Where Can You Have Infliximab Infusions in New York?
Prime Infusions operates 13 infusion centers across New York, plus one in Atlanta. In New York City that includes the Manhattan infusion center on the Upper East Side, the Brooklyn infusion center on Foster Avenue, a second Brooklyn center in Boro Park, Queens centers in Astoria, Jamaica, Howard Beach and Fresh Meadows, and a center on Staten Island. Outside the city there is the Great Neck infusion center in Nassau County, Port Jefferson Station in Suffolk County, Inwood in the Five Towns, Monroe in Orange County and New City in Rockland County. Addresses are on our locations page.
What Should You Have in Hand Before You Call Any Infusion Center?
This list is worth assembling whichever center you call, including one that is not Prime Infusions.
- The exact product on your current order (Remicade, Inflectra, Renflexis, Avsola or unbranded infliximab) and your dose in mg/kg.
- The date of your most recent infusion and the date the next one is due.
- Your prescriber's name, practice and fax number, and the name of the center you are leaving.
- Your latent tuberculosis screening result and its date, and whether you were treated for latent infection.
- Any infusion reaction you have had and what premedication was ordered afterward.
- Your insurance card, member ID and group number.
- Whether your current authorization names a specific site of care or product, and its expiration date.
- Questions for the center: which infliximab products it can obtain against your order, whether it will contact your prescriber and previous center directly, and what it needs to begin benefit verification.
With that in hand, patients and caregivers can start a transfer through the Remicade and infliximab request form. Referring physicians can send an order and records through our referrals page or call 718-443-4000. Background on the therapy is on the Remicade and infliximab page.
This article is for general education and is not medical advice, a diagnosis, or a treatment recommendation. Every infliximab product carries an FDA boxed warning headed "WARNING: SERIOUS INFECTIONS and MALIGNANCY", covering serious infections including tuberculosis and invasive fungal infection, and malignancy including lymphoma and hepatosplenic T-cell lymphoma; review the full prescribing information for the product prescribed to you and discuss your individual risk factors with your treating clinician. Coverage and out-of-pocket cost are determined by your health plan.