Today we’d like to introduce you to Amy Harper.
Amy, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My journey into healthcare really began in 2016, during one of the biggest turning points of my life.
I had just become a single mom with a seven-year-old and a newborn after leaving a situation involving domestic violence. I drove my children and myself back to Florida from Dallas, Texas, knowing that I needed to rebuild our lives and find a career that would allow me to support my family.
I had always loved helping people, so healthcare felt like a natural fit, but at that point I needed more than an idea. I needed a path forward. The Central Florida CareerSource helped me with the books, clothing and guidance I needed to enroll in the Medical Assistant program at FTC, now Northbridge University. I started school the same week I returned to Florida with my children.
One detail from that time has always stayed with me: the Medical Assistant program lasted almost exactly as long as the food assistance and cash assistance I qualified for while getting back on my feet. It felt like I had been given this very specific window of time to change the direction of our lives, and I was determined to use every bit of it.
I graduated in 2016 as a Registered Medical Assistant and began working in healthcare, eventually spending years in gastroenterology advocating for patients living with chronic digestive diseases like Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis and fatty liver disease. I saw firsthand that patients weren’t only fighting their disease. They were fighting through insurance approvals, specialty medication requirements, treatment access and a healthcare system that could be incredibly difficult to navigate.
I later transitioned into specialty pharmacy as an Account Manager, where part of my role was taking that administrative burden off medical assistants and their offices and putting it into the hands of myself and the pharmacists I worked alongside. It gave me an entirely different view of specialty medicine.
I began noticing the same problem everywhere: everyone could help, but only to a point. The medical office could do its part. The specialty pharmacy could do its part. The infusion center could do its part. But eventually, something would get pushed back onto the provider’s office or, even worse, onto the patient.
I kept thinking, “Why isn’t there one place that just helps with all of it?”
There was another gap I couldn’t ignore. A patient might be receiving a specialty medication for a chronic condition but also need something like iron, B12 or hydration. Suddenly, that became an entirely different process, often at an entirely different facility. I never understood why treating someone’s chronic condition and supporting their overall wellness had to exist in two separate worlds.
Then COVID changed the direction of my journey again.
During the pandemic, I created a COVID testing company. Through relationships with the Mexican Consulate, I began helping provide COVID testing for migrant workers coming into the United States who needed testing before they could begin their work assignments.
There were long days outside in the Florida heat wearing full PPE, swabbing patient after patient. It was physically exhausting and incredibly hard work, but it was also meaningful. We were helping people safely begin the work they had traveled here to do.
That work ultimately helped us raise the capital we needed to take the idea I had been carrying with me and turn it into something real.
In 2021, I co-founded Primera Specialty Infusion.
I wanted to build the place I had always wished existed, one that could help patients navigate the entire journey from benefits verification and prior authorization to specialty medication coordination, financial assistance and Patient Assistance Programs, while also being the place where they could actually receive their treatment and feel cared for.
I also wanted Primera to bridge the gap I had seen between chronic care and wellness. Today, we care for patients receiving complex specialty therapies while also offering hydration, vitamins and wellness services in the same welcoming environment. It has become what I like to describe as where specialty medicine meets elevated wellness.
When I look back at the path from 2016 to today, there are so many pieces that I never could have planned. I went from driving back to Florida with two children and starting Medical Assistant school the same week, relying on community resources to help me create a career, to advocating for patients in a medical office, working within specialty pharmacy, starting a COVID testing company during a pandemic and ultimately using those experiences to help build Primera.
The place I spent years wishing existed finally does.
And there is something very full-circle about the fact that the career I originally pursued because I needed to build a better life for my children became an opportunity to build something that could make healthcare a little better for other people, too.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It definitely has not been a smooth road. One of the biggest challenges has been learning every aspect of running a healthcare business while actually running it. I came from the clinical and patient advocacy side, but suddenly I also needed to understand insurance contracting, credentialing, reimbursement, medication acquisition, billing, compliance, operations, marketing and business development. When you are building a small company, there isn’t always another department to send something to. You learn how to figure it out.
Finding enough hours in the day has probably been just as challenging. While building Primera, I continued working to support my family so the capital we raised could stay in the business, earned my bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration, and I am now working toward my master’s degree, all while being a mom first.
Another challenge has been trying to do something different in an industry dominated by very large healthcare systems. We are a small, independent infusion center operating alongside hospital systems, national infusion companies and billion-dollar organizations. We don’t have their resources or enormous teams, so we have had to be creative, persistent and willing to learn.
But being small has also become one of our greatest strengths. We know our patients. We notice when something isn’t working. We can pick up the phone and advocate for someone instead of simply sending them to another department.
There have been doors that didn’t open, people who underestimated what we were trying to build and plenty of lessons I probably would have preferred to learn the easy way. But those experiences have also taught me not to accept “that’s just how healthcare works” when I know there could be a better way.
We’re still learning and growing, but when a patient tells us we made something easier or helped them finally access the care they needed, those long days feel worth it.
As you know, we’re big fans of Primera Specialty Infusion. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Primera Specialty Infusion is an independent infusion and wellness center in Lake Mary built around a simple idea: patients shouldn’t have to navigate complicated healthcare alone.
We specialize in infusion and injection therapies for patients living with chronic and complex conditions, including gastrointestinal, neurological, autoimmune and other specialty diseases. But what really sets Primera apart is everything that happens around the treatment.
We help patients and referring offices navigate benefits verification, prior authorizations, medication coordination, financial assistance and Patient Assistance Programs. Specialty medicine can involve a maze of insurance requirements, pharmacies, manufacturers and providers, and our goal is to help connect those pieces rather than sending the patient from one place to another trying to figure it out themselves.
We also recognized that chronic care and wellness often overlap. A patient receiving a specialty medication may also need iron, B12, hydration or other supportive services, yet traditionally those needs can send them through an entirely separate healthcare process. At Primera, we wanted to bring those worlds together.
That is why I describe Primera as “where specialty medicine meets elevated wellness.” Alongside specialty treatments, we offer IV hydration, vitamin and nutrient therapies, wellness injections, weight management and other wellness services in a comfortable, welcoming environment.
Convenience and access are a huge part of what we do. Healthcare shouldn’t become another obstacle in someone’s life. We offer telehealth appointments when appropriate, certain wellness treatments can be shipped directly to patients, and we offer Saturday appointments. We have even opened on Sundays when a patient truly needed us. For patients facing out-of-pocket healthcare expenses, we also offer financing through CareCredit and Cherry to help make eligible copays, deductibles and other patient-responsibility costs more manageable.
We’re intentionally different from the traditional infusion experience. Being independent gives us the flexibility to know our patients personally, communicate directly with their providers, advocate for them when barriers arise and sometimes simply say, “We’ll figure out how to make this work.”
Even our name reflects that philosophy. Primera means “first,” and our motto is “Putting Patients Primera.” Whether someone comes to us for treatment of a chronic condition or is investing in their wellness, we want them to feel that difference.
Ultimately, Primera isn’t just about what’s in the IV bag. It’s about removing barriers, expanding access and making healthcare easier to navigate, more personal and a little more human.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
I think specialty healthcare is going to look very different over the next 5–10 years. We are already seeing a shift away from the idea that every complex treatment has to happen inside a hospital or large health system.
More specialty medications are being developed, including therapies that can be administered subcutaneously or even self-administered at home. Telehealth is continuing to expand, and patients increasingly expect healthcare to fit into their lives rather than having to rearrange their lives around healthcare.
I also think the line between treating illness and supporting overall wellness will continue to become less rigid. Patients are more educated and proactive about their health than ever before. They aren’t only asking, “How do I treat my condition?” They’re also asking how they can feel better, stay healthier and improve their quality of life while living with it.
At the same time, specialty medications are becoming more advanced and more expensive, which makes patient access and navigation even more important. Prior authorizations, insurance requirements, specialty pharmacy coordination and financial assistance aren’t going away. If anything, I believe organizations that can successfully connect those pieces for patients will become increasingly valuable.
That is where I see independent healthcare organizations like Primera playing an important role. We can be more flexible, embrace new models of care faster and create a more personalized experience without losing the clinical standards that specialty medicine requires.
I believe the future is going to be less about choosing between traditional medicine and wellness and more about bringing the best parts of both together. More personalized, more accessible, more convenient and more focused on the whole patient.
That is exactly the direction we’re building toward at Primera: where specialty medicine meets elevated wellness.
Pricing:
- Initial Weight Loss Regimen | Tirzepatide + Glycine (60 Day Starter Program) $350.00
- Tirzepatide Maintenance | Starting at $245/month
- Hydration IV Package | 4 IV’s for $45o/month
- Telehealth Appointments | Included
- Medication Delivery + Supplies | Included
Contact Info:
- Website: https://primeraspecialty.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/primeraspecialty?utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1EWmi242fT/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/primera-specialty-infusion/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PrimeraSpecialty
