Healthcare Laundry Community Gathers To Discuss Trends, Best Practices And Innovations

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — December 9, 2017 — More than 200 commercial laundry professionals participated in last week’s TRSA Healthcare Conference & Plant Tour in Nashville, including nearly 100 operators representing companies responsible for processing nearly 90 percent of all healthcare linens, garments and uniforms in North America. Attendees of the two-day Conference participated in informative, interactive discussions and panels on healthcare processing related trends, best practices and innovations.

The TRSA Healthcare Conference, the largest international event focused on processing linens, garments and uniforms for the healthcare sector, attracted senior executives from  Alsco Health Assure, AmeriPride, Cintas, Crothall, Crown, Ecotex, Emerald, Faultless, Florida Linen, ImageFirst, K-Bro, Linen King, Foussard Montague, Mission, Nixon, Paris, Superior Health, Textile Care, UniFirst and Unitex, as well as all the major equipment manufacturers, chemical and linen supply partners.

The Conference kicked-off with a presentation from Dr. Manny Alvarez, senior managing health editor for Fox News, offering his views on “Healthcare’s Future – What’s Next?” focusing on the current healthcare environment and healthcare reform including his perspectives of what the Trump presidency may mean for the future of the law.

“Innovative Market Driven Services” panel representatives from healthcare laundry companies discussed the latest customer requirements pertaining to reducing waste and increasing patient safety and satisfaction. The panel was moderated by Scott Delin, Fashion Seal Healthcare, and included Jim Buchbinder, Economy Linen and Towel Service; Josh Ramirez, Medico Professional Linen Service; and Carey Scurria, Crothall Healthcare. “Quality Product Innovations,” a panel selected by the TRSA Healthcare Committee, included presentations by Ecolab on disinfectant chemical treatments, Jensen’s latest equipment efficiency advancements and Standard Textile on therapeutic linen developments.

Matthew Oglesby, MHSA, Healthtrust Corporate Director of Environmental Services for Supply Chain, offered a healthcare linen customer perspective on Infection Prevention Critical Control Points, including equipment, performance and physical facility expectations, perceptions and responsibilities for delivery, storage, distribution and collection.

Additional sessions covered Integrated Healthcare Delivery Networks trends, Cart Cleaning and Disinfection, and RFID. The day closed with a panel presentation focused on the design and construction of the recently completed NOVO Health Services plant that attendees would tour the following day. All presentations are available to TRSA members at https://www.trsa.org/pastpresentations.

NOVO Health Services’ 46,000 square-foot facility currently processes 10 million lbs. per year and will undergo second phase expansion to increase capacity to 24 million lbs. The tour provided opportunities for participants to speak directly with representatives from manufacturers who equipped the facility and other suppliers, as well as NOVO executives.

In addition, participants received an update from Kevin Schwalb, TRSA Vice President of Government Relations, regarding the impact of the new Trump administration on labor and tax policy, health reform and more, as well as updates on TRSA Healthcare-related resources including the TRSA’s Six C’s: Handling Soiled Linen in a Healthcare Environment training video (distributed to nearly 1,500 healthcare facilities) and a customizable Healthcare Linen Loss Animation.

Prior to the Healthcare Conference, TRSA’s Hygienically Clean Healthcare Advisory met to address evolving best practices and requirements. In addition, TRSA facilitated the first face-to-face meeting of the Hygienically Clean Users Group, composed of individuals representing the more than 100 plants that have earned the industry’s fastest growing, internationally recognized and only third-party inspected and tested Hygienically Clean Healthcare Certification.

Posted December 12, 2016

Source: TRSA

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