The healthcare industry has never been more regulated or competitive than now. The government has established stringent standards regarding bloodborne pathogens and environmental regulations. Patients still want comfort and quality care. Medical facilities must look for ways to cut costs to remain competitive. One potential opportunity for cost savings is linen inventory cleaning and maintenance. Consider the following options.
Common Options for Healthcare Linen Services
There are four basic methods healthcare facilities use to manage linens. The challenge is getting your cost down as low as you can. You must meet all current Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards. You also want to maintain the same high-quality linens and care your patients expect. Consider the following options:
1) Disposable Gowns and Linens
You can use disposable gowns and linens for patients while maintaining your own inventory of garments for you and your staff.
The Good: Using disposable gowns and linens for your patients is easy and convenient and meets OSHA standards.
Things to Consider: This option is not always the most comfortable for your patients. It is the least environmentally friendly option and could end up more costly than other options.
2) Owning and Laundering Your Own Inventory
With this option, you own, maintain, and launder your own inventory of garments in-house for patients and staff.
The Good: Having complete control of your inventory guarantees linen availability. It can also even be more affordable for smaller practices.
Things to Consider: It requires space to store inventory and comes with hidden maintenance costs. It also requires extra work and attention for you and your staff to remain compliant with OSHA standards.
3) Owning Your Own Inventory, Outsourcing Laundering
You can also choose to own your own fabric linen inventory while using an outside laundry service to launder it.
The Good: This approach proves more convenient than laundering your inventory yourself. It can even be more cost effective.
Things to Consider: Outside laundry services are prone to misplace linens and may or may not meet OSHA standards.
4) Outsourcing Laundering and Maintenance
You may also choose to use a healthcare laundry rental and cleaning service to take care of the entire process for you.
The Good: A simplified and streamlined process for you. The government requires OSHA compliance. You get all services combined into one convenient monthly expense.
Things to Consider: Outside linen services are known to make mistakes both with inventory and delivery.
OSHA and Healthcare Linen Services
The government requires linen rental and laundering businesses to meet OSHA standards before providing health care services. Many companies package linens individually to avoid cross contamination. This protects your employees and patients from potential exposure to blood and body fluids. Additionaly, you must also mark bags and containers holding soiled garments at healthcare facilities accordingly for safety and compliance. A healthcare linen services company that provides rental and laundering could save you the work and time it takes to remain OSHA compliant.
Keep Your Competitive Advantage
The healthcare legislation of recent years has tightened the competition across the industry. What are you doing to set your facility apart? Save yourself time and hassle by outsourcing all your linen services to a quality, OSHA-compliant healthcare linen services company. Free your time to focus on providing the best healthcare possible. Contact Us for more information on keeping you OSHA compliant through linen rental and laundering services.
