When Should Outpatient Facilities Outsource Medical Laundry Services?

For outpatient clinics and centers, when deciding to outsource linens to a commercial healthcare laundry service for cleaning and inventory management there are four areas to consider: competence, efficiency, work quality, and impact of onsite cleaning/management.

Competence

Ensure your laundry will always meet your service and delivery standards by asking about:

The experience of the management team ? do they have extensive experience in the commercial laundry business?Are they knowledgeable about the special concerns of medical facilities?Is the staff highly trained?What back-up support systems are in place?How will broken machinery be repaired and how quickly to prevent downtime?What delivery protocols are in place? What if there is an out-of-service vehicle or a driver calls in sick? How will I be impacted?

Efficiency

A commercial healthcare laundry service is able to efficiently automate the cleaning process and pass the cost-savings on to you.

How are the linens sorted upon arrival?What safety precautions are in place?Is contamination decreased or eliminated?How is the linen tracked from start to finish?Are the wash/dry cycles independently programmable for each load?What energy, chemical, and water-conserving processes are in place?Will you see consistent results?Will the linen life be extended?How often will you receive linens?

Quality

When cleaning and caring for healthcare linens is all you do, quality control is integral to meeting client expectations.

Is there controlled work-flow and air handling?Is process-control monitoring in place?

How are the following evaluated?

Whiteness (where applicable)Tensile strengthSoil removalBleach and/or other decontaminate effectiveness

On-site Considerations

Laundering healthcare linens on-site is a costly, labor intensive, and complicated process that can potentially detract from patient care if medically-trained staff are required to cleanse and monitor linen usage.

How quickly are you able to process needed linens?Are these linens acceptably clean?Are these lines acceptably decontaminated?What loss prevention measures are in place?How do water and power usage and labor impact your bottom line?Is your practice able to provide staff with personal protective garments made from innovative textile fabrics such as Vestex?

When considering the overall impact of linen cleaning and management on an outpatient clinic or center, many doctors and/or practice administrators determine that the costs do not benefit patients, staff, or the bottom line. By asking the hard questions and exploring how commercial medical laundry services may benefit your practice, you will serve all well.

Craig Mayo is the owner of Custom Linen Solutions, a Medical Laundry and Healthcare Linen textile services plant that has been serving Florida?s Healthcare industry for over 17 years.

Source: http://www.womenfavor.com/health-and-fitness/healthcare-systems/when-should-outpatient-facilities-outsource-medical-laundry-services.html

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