ISSA CERTIFICATION AND HCAHPS STRATEGIES: CROTHALL FOCUSES ON STANDARDS IN LATEST CELEBRATIONS

Cleaning services certifications are taking center stage in the latest Celebrations, Crothall Services Group's quarterly magazine. The past year has seen the emergence new industry standards for cleaning services and government satisfaction rankings for healthcare centers. This issue touches on Crothall's new ISSA CIMS certification (the first of its kind) and the experience Crothall can bring their customers in meeting their own ratings goals on the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS).

In January, Crothall earned its Cleaning Industry Management Standards (CIMS) certification from ISSA, the worldwide cleaning industry association, after almost a year of standards review. Although the ink has dried on the certification, the things that Crothall learned during the process are continuing to enhance their services.

One of the greatest challenges facing healthcare providers today is finding some kind of consistency in quality for environmental services companies. Rich Feczko, Crothall's National Director of Standards, called the process "arduous," describing a painstaking task of sifting through references and company-spun data. "Our healthcare clients are in the business of caring for patients, and, while they desire healthy environments, they must rely on someone else's expertise to create them," Feczko explained.

ISSA has tried to fill that hole by defining sanitation services standards by actively developing a set of operational guidelines. Over the last 18 months, 33 organizations have been certified, only three of them (including Crothall) national companies and mostly catering to offices and colleges.

When Crothall completed its review, it became the first healthcare services company to be ISSA CIMS certified. "Achieving this designation will reassure our clients that they have put their trust in the right organization," stated Bobby Kutteh, Crothall's CEO, "and that Crothall represents the best this industry has to offer."

Alongside ISSA's push for standards, in the past year Medicare and Medicaid have started publicizing their HCAHPS satisfaction scores for hospitals and clinics across the country. As hospitals begin facing public scrutiny about their performance, Crothall began launching short-term and long-term strategies for improving satisfaction scores for their clients.

Crothall's strategy for improving HCAHPS scores emphasizes organization and relationship. Cleaning is not just a series of tasks to complete. As this article explores, improving customer satisfaction depends on communication, engagement, and mutual respect between employees, administrators, and patients. "Cleaning is a means to provide great care to the person," reminds the article, "it is not an end to itself."

The latest Celebrations is available on the Crothall website at www.crothall.com/celebrations.

About Crothall Services Group
Headquartered in Wayne, Pennsylvania, Crothall's goal is to be the preferred partner for support services to leading healthcare organizations across the United States. Services include environmental services, laundry and linen, patient transportation, facilities management, and clinical equipment services. Crothall Services Group is committed to consistently delivering superior quality support services that contribute to a healthy environment. To learn more about the company and its services, contact Crothall Services Group at Marketing@crothall.com or online at www.crothall.com.