OBJECTIVES: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease affecting 0.6% of the population in the US. Current RA infusion therapy incurs substantial cost and time to the hospital and patient.  The purpose of this study was to model the infusion and related staff costs within a hospital center to better understand the economic and time burden of RA infusion therapy.  METHODS: We developed an Excel model to estimate the annual time and cost burden associated with RA infusion services in a hypothetical hospital center. We assumed patients received abatacept, tocilizumab, or rituximab monotherapy. Product package inserts informed the number of annual maintenance infusions (13 infusions for abatacept [30 minutes each] and tocilizumab [60 minutes each]; 4 infusions for rituximab [195 minutes each]) per patient. The model projected annual direct costs and total value of staff time for infusion drug administration, infusion-related services, facility-related services, laboratory tests, and patient/caregiver costs. Costs were derived from the literature and adjusted to 2012 USD; 29.5% allocated overhead was applied to laboratory, facility and infusion service costs. Time estimates were obtained from the literature and survey data, converted to annual wages using BLS data, and adjusted to 2012 USD.  RESULTS: The baseline model estimated total infusion drug and service-related costs to be $24,645 for abatacept, $27,840 for rituximab, and $31,339 for tocilizumab. Roughly 54%, 62% and 58% of these annual costs are associated with hospital labor, respectively. Patient/caregiver costs, comprising of lost wages and indirect medical costs, were estimated to be $788 for abatacept, $793 for rituximab, and $1,063 for tocilizumab.  CONCLUSIONS: Our findings show that direct and infusion-related contribute to a substantial economic and time burden to both the hospital and patient. These findings can help decision-makers assess the relative benefits and cost implications of administering infusion drugs to RA patients.