LAFAYETTE PARISH — IV hydration therapy has gained popularity in Acadiana and across Louisiana in recent years, but new regulations from the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners are forcing some businesses to close.
Vivid Infusion & Wellness in Lafayette is one such business. The clinic, which offers IV hydration therapy, will soon be closing its doors due to the financial strain the new rules will impose.
“We’ve tried to really be by the book, go over and above what we needed to do because, like I said, it has not been regulated up until this point,” said Jackie Hettich, CEO of Vivid Infusion & Wellness.
According to the Board of Medical Examiners, IV hydration therapy clinics typically operate as walk-in or mobile services, offering patients pre-formulated cocktails of vitamins, minerals, or medications like Zofran, mixed into an IV saline bag. The new regulations now require patients to obtain a prescription from a doctor before receiving these treatments.
“You have to have a doctor establish care with that patient. You have to have them go over their medical history and basically give them a prescription for the IV,” Hettich explained. “That was an easy thing to overcome and something we were close to doing anyway.”
Vivid Infusion & Wellness has had a doctor on-site for the past few weeks to comply with this requirement. However, the clinic is struggling with another regulation, which Hettich said is unaffordable: only doctors or pharmacists are now allowed to mix additions into IV bags. “Nurses cannot mix the bags. Nurse practitioners cannot mix the bags. I don’t know how any business is going to be able to financially afford paying a doctor to be there all the time mixing bags,” Hettich said.
Hettich acknowledged the need for more regulation in the industry but said the financial burden of having a doctor on-site for day-to-day operations is one of the reasons she decided to close the business on August 23rd.
