LLEXINGTON, KY/USA - JUNE 3, 2018: Entrance sign and foliage background to the campus of the University of Kentucky.

Contributed by Virtual Manager

UK HealthCare, the University of Kentucky’s hospital system, is a Level 1 trauma center, employing 9,000 people – physicians, nurses, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals. Crothall Healthcare manages a total of 330 environmental services (EVS) associates at UK HealthCare. In alignment with the hospital’s work culture, Crothall instituted HealthClean in late 2019. The HealthClean automation software platform was born from a partnership between Crothall Healthcare and Virtual Manager. The platform unifies operations management duties and metrics in a single digital home platform that allows service providers to see work details in real time, augment their pandemic response, and respond immediately to crises. 

The HealthClean project blended perfectly with UK HealthCare’s own home-grown initiative to bring digital management to their internal tasks. The institution’s goal is to improve the speed and quality of environmental services for the satisfaction of patients as well as the inherent value of improved cleaning procedures. HealthClean brought the power of knowledge to a team eager to analyze it. 

With HealthClean, an analysis of room turnaround flagged issues like employees habitually spending more time for High Profile Cleaning, the platform then making made it easier for Crothall to correct these problems in processes. The software helped to determine specific processes and other delays and the amount of time it added to employee’s shifts and enabled Crothall managers to easily move around resources to compensate. 

HealthClean efficiencies reduced 17 FTEs of the 98 FTEs, and while using the platform, UK HealthCare has saved $325,000 annually. Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) scores have also improved and healthcare-associated infection (HAI) incidence dropped.