The healthcare industry is constantly changing and growing and to keep up, your medical cleaning service needs to constantly innovate and evolve. With any medical facility, solid HCAHPS scores are must to meet patient expectations and to demonstrate your industry competency. Add to this the fact that medical cleaning presents a number of regulatory issues and unique industry challenges that you simply won’t find with more general cleaning. If your medical cleaning service doesn’t understand the unique requirements of healthcare cleaning, your HCAHPS scores will suffer. So, how do you find the right healthcare cleaning service for the everyday needs of healthcare facilities and how do you find a healthcare cleaning partner to help you meet the current challenges of a global pandemic?
As a facility manager in healthcare, you understand that your facility has particular needs that require more from your medical cleaning company. Understandably, a building with high level needs requires a high level cleaning service, control and prevention measures, especially now when the stakes have never been so high. Medical cleaning services always require a level of professionalism but with the threat of Covid-19, medical disinfection services can provide additional assurances, protection and peace of mind. Medical disinfection services go beyond the typical cleaning to add another layer of quality and control that can protect health and safety and limit the spread of disease-causing pathogens.
The HCAHPS scoring system is stringent and detailed, and not without good reason. It is designed to protect patients from medical centers that will do more harm than good giving consumers meaningful choices. But with tighter and tighter cleaning budgets, it can be difficult to meet all the numerous and varied requirements it presents. Many Facility Managers will turn to cheaper healthcare service providers to help compensate for this often further reducing HCAHPS scores.
We know that service pricing will always be a limiting factor, but it should never be the only thing that you consider. All too often medical cleaning companies will try to lowball offers because they know you’re on a tight budget and never follow through on a quality service. You can have an experienced, professional medical cleaning service that won’t destroy your cleaning budget. There is a difference between providing ineffective service at a cheap price and strategically reducing unnecessary tasks to save money making all the difference when it comes to medical cleaning companies.
As a Medical Facility supervisor, you are probably painfully aware of the stringent and detailed regulatory compliances that come along with your industry, but is your medical cleaner aware of them? A detailed and complete knowledge of HIPPA, OSHA and Blood-Borne Pathogens and other various regulatory requirements are as critical to smooth facility function as they are to proper facility cleaning. You should have every expectation that your cleaning service is as familiar with proper industry regulations as you are. It is vital to protecting your staff and patients and shielding yourself unnecessary liability.
Managing a health based facility means that the well being of a number of people lay in your hands. You simply can’t afford to partner with a medical cleaning company or medical disinfection services that do not take the safety and health of your patients seriously. Having a well cleaned and serviced environment is one of the best ways to help keep patients and medical staff safe. It also communicates professionalism and expertise to all your support staff and others giving them a sense of quality care and dedication to a high quality service.
Likewise, a well cleaned healthcare facility is one way to help retain top talent. No medical professional wants to work in a dirty hospital. A solid medical cleaning service has an enormous impact on almost every aspect of your facility’s function. Don’t settle for a medical cleaning service that doesn’t understand how critical their role is in protecting patients and providing the best possible environment for everyone involved.
Actions will always speak louder than words in the medical cleaning industry. After all, what cleaning service wouldn’t tell you that they can solve any problem or do any type of work if they are out for your business? Before you partner with any prospective medical cleaning service, ask them to back up their claims with demonstrable processes that can clearly translate into results on the job. Any industry professional would be more than happy to show off what they can do for you, your patients, and your facility.
This starts with solid people practices. A service is only as good as the people that do it and it is absolutely critical that medical cleaners are the right people for the job. This means your prospective medical services provider doesn’t have a robust and stringent screening, training and management framework, it is time to move on. This should include at the very minimum: criminal background checks, multi-panel drug test, employment verification and an effective training program.
The right commercial medical cleaning company isn’t going to just show up at your doorstep unfortunately, but it is worth taking the time to find. That doesn’t mean, however, that there aren’t tools out there to help you find a solid medical cleaning company. Take the ISSA’s CIMS certification. It is a robust and stringent certification done through an independent third party that demonstrates a company's commitment to professionalism, responsiveness and industry best practices. While not every CIMS certified company is going to be right for your building, every CIMS certified company is going to competent, understand your industries specific compliance and regulatory issues and have systems in place to guarantee a high quality service. You don’t need to waste your time looking through the overcrowded cleaning marketplace when you can start with the best the industry has to offer. CIMS can be a powerful tool in quickly identifying companies that would make excellent long term partners.
With the emergent threat of coronavirus, professional, effective medical cleaning and medical disinfection services can help your facility weather this storm.