As healthcare systems grapple with economic pressures, workforce shortages, and geopolitical instability, the shift toward home-based care is accelerating. Home infusion therapy, once a niche offering, is now emerging as a scalable, cost-effective solution for delivering chronic care outside traditional hospital settings. 

At the forefront of this transformation is Float, a health tech startup founded in 2021 by former ER nurse Ryan Johnson. Float connects specialty pharmacies with a nationwide network of nurses, enabling on-demand home infusion visits while reducing operational costs and improving patient outcomes. Johnson shared key insights with Drug Discovery News on how Float is navigating supply chain disruptions, tariff pressures, and the growing demand for decentralized care, positioning home-based treatment as a resilient model for the future of healthcare.

How are recent or proposed pharmaceutical tariffs influencing supply chain decisions, particularly around medication access and logistics planning?

At Float, we work with many of the largest players in specialty medicine—Optum, CVS, Option Care, Alliance RX (Walgreens), Kroger, and more. Across conversations with our customers, one theme is clear: the rise of home infusion is accelerating. It’s becoming a critical pressure valve as pharmaceutical tariffs increase costs system-wide.

Higher drug prices for payers, increased coinsurance and premiums for patients, and declining vaccination rates all point toward rising illness and a more expensive care landscape. In response, specialty pharmacies are shifting care delivery to the home, which is the cheapest site for care, in an effort to reduce overhead costs while still providing folks with the most effective treatments.

We’re scaling to meet this demand, expanding our footprint in existing regions and fast-tracking entry into new markets to support this shift.

Have you seen any changes in your supply chain strategy or sourcing of materials or equipment as a result of tariff-related uncertainty?

Medical devices used in the home infusion space are relatively resilient and less vulnerable to tariff-driven supply chain disruptions. They’re also low-cost compared to devices used in the facility setting. 

Most specialty drugs that are mixed onsite at pharmacies or patient homes are also insulated from tariff price hikes. However, we anticipate potential supply chain disruptions for widely used anti-inflammatory drugs like Solumedrol, which are more generic, as well as best-selling prescription medications such as Keytruda, manufactured by Merck.

Overall, it’s likely that there will be a biosimilars boom as pharmacies shift away from first-to-market drugs produced overseas toward domestic manufacturing. There may also be manufacturing changes based on how tariffs differ between countries. For instance, if a drug is primarily manufactured in a country heavily impacted by tariffs, companies may shift to sourcing a biosimilar from a less affected region, though domestic production will likely remain the preferred long-term strategy.

What measures are you taking to mitigate risks related to international trade tensions?

As payers bear the brunt of pharmaceutical tariffs, Float is working closely with customers to minimize operational costs as they look to efficiently and sustainably reduce overhead expenditures.

When patients with chronic conditions are treated in hospitals, payers are responsible for covering all ancillary services the facility provides. Home care has always been the more cost-effective option, and Float plays a key role in reducing financial risk for specialty pharmacies by shifting care to this lower-cost setting and avoiding the high expenses tied to facility-based services.

There are also long-term benefits associated with transitioning to home care delivery. By helping patients stay on track with their treatments, Float reduces the likelihood of hospital admissions due to unmanaged symptoms, leading to more efficient care delivery and lower per-patient costs for payers.

What types of risks are you or your clients most concerned about right now—cost fluctuations, availability, regulatory compliance—and how are you helping to mitigate those?

Right now, our pharmacy partners are most focused on managing the rapid growth expected in the sector. They need nationwide access to a high-quality nursing workforce and are turning to trusted partners like Float to help them meet the surge in demand.

At the same time, our Float nurses are actively seeking more opportunities to care for home infusion patients. With rising economic, political, and social uncertainty, hospitals are bracing for impact by cutting labor costs through hiring freezes, reduced overtime, and thinner staffing ratios. As a result, more nurses are looking to supplement their income, and we’re seeing increased interest in Float visits as a flexible, reliable alternative.

How are you navigating the potential impact of tariffs while continuing to optimize pharmacy operations and care delivery?

The medical equipment Float nurses use is not heavily impacted by looming tariffs. Our priority remains working with our specialty pharmacy partners to optimize operations and reduce costs as much as possible while improving the quality of care for all patients. 

We recently announced updates to our specialty pharmacy portal, which allow pharmacies to secure nurses for patient home visits within minutes. Pharmacy teams can also use the portal to view patient visit schedules, monitor treatment progression, and supply medication accordingly. By centralizing all relevant information in one place, Float eliminates the administrative burden of outdated practices like lengthy email chains and chart bounceback.  

Have you seen shifts in how health systems or manufacturers approach stockpiling or safety stock strategies due to geopolitical tensions?

Hospitals and clinics already operating under tight budgets are finding it even harder to afford new technologies, therapies, and even basic supplies. In response, health systems and pharmacies are increasingly building stockpiles of critical items like normal saline, IV bags, tubing, and other essential equipment to safeguard against future disruptions.

Are you incorporating more automation or digital QC tools to manage increased throughput or tighter release timelines?

Float has embraced automation from day one to help specialty pharmacies fill more prescriptions, faster, enabling patients to stay happy, healthy, and at home.

We also use technology to remove the friction points that disrupt care delivery. By automating documentation, communication, and data capture, we free up nurses to focus on patient care rather than paperwork.

With demand for home-based care set to surge, we’ve fast-tracked our product roadmap. We're rolling out new features at a steady pace to support our nurses and ease administrative burdens for our pharmacy partners.

How do you see tariffs affecting innovation, particularly for smaller biotech companies or startups?

In times of uncertainty, investors tend to favor recession-resistant sectors like healthcare. Even amid tariffs and geopolitical instability, resilient healthtech startups are rising to the top, demonstrating their tenacity through positive unit economics and a robust go-to-market strategy.

While deal volume is down, the capital flowing into venture is increasing. That means fewer startups are getting funded, but those that are have clearly demonstrated meaningful, measurable impact.

At Float, we serve as the delivery infrastructure for biotech innovation. By using AI to strengthen supply chain security, we’re helping make these breakthroughs more efficient, reliable, and scalable.

What policy changes—if any—would be more effective than tariffs for supporting domestic innovation and manufacturing?

Instead of isolationism, the U.S. should leverage the power of the dollar, the beacon of the American Dream, and the agility of our startups to drive the innovation that lets us specialize in high-value work. Folks in the U.S. want to work at world-changing tech companies. 

Globalization, removing barriers to immigration, and facilitating international commerce all encourage a concentration of the best and the brightest to work on hard problems here in the U.S. Rather than pushing people into uncertainty, we should work towards building a better future with policy that invests in innovation over incumbents.

What lessons from the pandemic or other geopolitical events are shaping how you plan for quality control resilience today?

My experience as an ER nurse during the pandemic fundamentally shaped how I approach complex, high-stakes challenges.

First, it taught me how to manage uncertainty by accurately sizing risk. Too often, we treat all unknowns as threats. Instead, we try to quantify what we can, and treat the rest as neutral—until there's data to suggest otherwise.

Second, we think like systems engineers. Just as the human body can simultaneously be using some hormones to drive up blood pressure and others to lower it, any problem operates with interconnected and interdependent systems. The key is identifying both the rate-limiters and the levers that create the most impact.

At Float, we apply these principles to continuously improve our quality control. We analyze our data to pinpoint the highest-impact opportunities, then design and deploy products that optimize those areas. It’s how we deliver care that’s not just efficient, but orders of magnitude safer.