Healthcare facilities have been dealt several blows – kicking off with the pandemic – leading to economic uncertainty and staffing shortages. Many haven’t seen a sustained rebound in elective surgeries, however, it sounds like the light at the end of the tunnel may finally be in sight.
While we wait with bated breath, it’s a good time to start prepping and planning. Priorities that were put on hold to accommodate the mounting pressures that came with the pandemic need to take a higher priority. For example, the CMS program aimed at measuring pathogen transmission is scheduled to be reinstated in 2024, making hospitals vulnerable to losing Medicare reimbursement dollars.
A great first step could be reassessing your cleaning and disinfection protocols and the tools you have that are being used inconsistently or may not be used at all. For example, many hospitals adapted their LightStrike robot programs to disinfect specifically for SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) because that was the highest concern. Now they’re looking to transition to a pathogen-specific program that allows them to disinfect for antimicrobial resistant superbugs (like MRSA and VRE) with disinfection cycles as short as 2 minutes. Since the robot is so easy to use, hospitals feeling the staffing shortage have garnered support from all areas of the hospital to help run the robot and keep their standard of care for disinfection intact.
UV room disinfection doesn’t just benefit patients. The pandemic highlighted the need to provide hospital staff with adequate disinfection tools to reduce the risk of pathogen transmission. The overwhelming majority of our hospital customers used their LightStrike robots to disinfect rooms before EVS staff started the room turnover process. It became a welcome perk and an added level of comfort for hospital staff – some even use it as a recruiting benefit.
We’ve also seen customers revisit their communication plan for Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) to ensure they’re sharing information that is beneficial to a patient’s experience. Especially those steps that patients often don’t see, and may not understand what is being done or the motivation behind it. Xenex offers customers a wealth of enhanced disinfection resources for the LightStrike robot that can be incorporated into the facility’s communication plans. A clear, holistic line of communication can have a positive impact on patient perception and lead to greater Medicare reimbursement. In fact, we’ve seen a hospital customer achieve a 10% increase in their HCAHPS scores after adapting their patient communication plan to include information about their LightStrike disinfection program.
As hospitals begin tackling these important objectives, we offer consultative support to help identify ways to reduce room disinfection time and its impact on your staff. We’ve been a leader in environmental disinfection for nearly a decade and if there’s one thing we’re committed to – it’s helping hospitals achieve better disinfection through efficacy and efficiency. Whether you’re already a customer or looking to integrate UVC disinfection technology, we’re ready to help. Email your questions or comments to successteam@xenex.com.
