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Content about Quality assurance

May 16, 2013
Survey: Respondents Show Lukewarm Interest in Laundry Accreditation or Certification

CHICAGO — Roughly 42% report they are seeking third-party accreditation or certification, or renewal

CHICAGO – The laundry administrators and managers who responded to this month’s American Laundry News Wire survey expressed little interest in having their facilities independently accredited or certified by third-party organizations, according to the survey data.

Just 8.3% of respondents reported that their textile services operation is accredited or certified in some way by an organization independent from their own. Another 8.3% said they were “not sure.” The remaining 83.3% reported having no such accreditation or certification.

Organizations such as the Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council (HLAC) and the Textile Rental Services Association (TRSA) can certify laundry facilities as being in compliance with industry standards and protocols. Respondents who reported their facilities as accredited/certified said this standing came from HLAC and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP).

Roughly 42% of respondents said that they are “currently seeking” to receive accreditation/certification, or to renew accreditation/certification, within the next year. The remaining 58.3% are not.

Approximately 18% of respondents believe that accreditation/certification offers their operation benefits that it would not otherwise receive, and another 18.2% are unsure. The remaining 63.6% don’t believe accreditation/certification offers benefits.

Do you think independent accreditation/certification of laundry facilities should be mandatory in the United States? Only 16.7% of respondents believe that it should, while 66.7% say no. The remaining 16.7% “don’t know” if accreditation/certification should be mandatory.

While the Wire survey presents a snapshot of readers’ viewpoints at a particular moment, it should not be considered scientific.

Subscribers to Wire e-mails—distributed twice weekly—are invited to take the industry survey anonymously online each month. All managers and administrators of institutional/OPL, cooperative, commercial and industrial laundries are encouraged to participate, as a greater number of responses will help to better define operator opinions and industry trends.

December 17, 2012
7th Mission Linen Supply Plant Receives HLAC Accreditation

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Bakersfield plant joins others in Phoenix, Ariz.; Albuquerque, N.M.; and Santa Maria, Fresno, Salinas and Chino, Calif.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Mission Linen Supply reports that its Bakersfield facility has been accredited by the Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council (HLAC), making it the seventh plant companywide to be so recognized.

The Bakersfield plant joins facilities in Phoenix, Ariz.; Albuquerque, N.M.; and Santa Maria, Fresno, Salinas and Chino, Calif.

HLAC is a non-profit organization that inspects and accredits laundries that process healthcare textiles for hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare facilities. National inspections assure customers that the highest-quality standards are met when processing healthcare products, Mission Linen Supply says.

“Earning accreditation makes us a better company and gives our customers peace of mind from knowing their supplier is meeting the highest standards in processing healthcare textiles,” says Karl Willig, Mission Linen Supply president/CEO..

“The customers that we serve—predominately acute-care hospitals—are accustomed to dealing with agencies, vendors and people who have earned accreditation. It’s the right thing to do if you are in the business of processing and providing healthcare textiles.”

January 20, 2011
Detailed RFP Process Goes Long Way in ID'ing 'Quality' Linen Processor (Pt. 2 of 2)

LOUISVILLE — If your institution or business is in the market for a laundry service provider, how can you tell which candidate is a ‘quality’ linen processor and which is not? Or, if you are in the running to provide laundry service for a new client, what are they likely to expect of the provider they ultimately choose?

December 16, 2009
Know Your Scores: Measure Quality from Laundry to OR

Quality and excellence. We all want them, but what you can’t measure, you can’t improve.

When I joined The Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha eight years ago, I found performance measures. As a result, I have made the aggressive pursuit of quality and safety part of the culture at Nebraska Medical Center. Operating with quality at the forefront of all of our organizational endeavors is not only the right thing to do; the external environment now demands this. As we all know, assessment of quality by both patients and payers is on the rise.

September 2, 2009
HLAC-Accredited Plants Number 75 and Rising (Part 1 of 2)

BATAVIA, Ill. — Superior Health Linens’ brand-new plant here is the latest facility to seek accreditation by the Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council (HLAC), a non-profit organization that determines by inspection if applicant laundries meet or exceed high standards for processing healthcare textiles.

April 28, 2009
HLAC Seeks Public Comment on Laundry Accreditation Standards

FRANKFORT, Ill. — The Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council (HLAC) will open its accreditation standards for public comment June 1 to July 31.

The document — titled Accreditation Standards for Processing Reusable Textiles for Use in Healthcare Facilities — was first published in April 2006 and can be viewed and downloaded online at www.hlacnet.org.

October 3, 2008
HLAC Accreditation Requires More Than Just Reading a Book

In August, American Laundry News invited its Wire subscribers to participate in an online survey on the value of accreditation. The survey results revealed that about half indicated accreditation was worthwhile, while others were either unsure or felt accreditation did not offer any additional benefits.

August 18, 2008
Survey: Roughly Half of Survey Respondents See Accreditation as Worthwhile

CHICAGO — The quality of a healthcare facility’s laundry is just one aspect the Joint Commission considers when evaluating a hospital or nursing home for accreditation. The new Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council (HLAC) focuses solely on a laundry's ability to meet textile processing standards in inspecting laundries that request it.

July 8, 2008
Hospitals Beginning to Specify HLAC Accreditation in Laundry Bids

FAIRWAY, Kan. — Hospitals are beginning to specify in bids for laundry services that providers be accredited by the Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council (HLAC), according to some accredited laundries that have monitored bid requests during the past six months.

March 10, 2008
Interest From Sodexo, Crothall Demonstrates Accreditation Appeal, HLAC Says

FAIRWAY, Kan. – Sodexo (formerly Sodexho) Laundry Services and the Laundry Services Division of Crothall Services Group have each signed 12 of their plants for accreditation by the Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council (HLAC), and the increasing interest in its program now has the HLAC looking at adding surgical pack room inspections.

December 12, 2007
If There's a Bar to Clear, Who Sets the Height?

As the pole vaulter sprints down the approach, straining to gain speed with every stride he takes, he sees the bar perched high atop the stanchions. He plants his pole, leaps, twists in midair and...

On a good day, if he’s feeling strong and the conditions are right, he’ll clear the bar with plenty of room to spare.

On a bad day – maybe it’s windy and raining – he’ll be off stride on his approach and fall woefully short of the mark.

February 8, 2007
More Than 40 Laundries in Line for Healthcare Accreditation

EVANSTON, Ill. — Since the Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council (HLAC) began its inspection program less than a year ago, more than 40 healthcare laundries have signed up seeking accreditation, the HLAC reports.

To date, 11 laundries have received accreditation and another 30 are in the process of preparing for the inspection that will qualify them.

December 1, 2006
How Do I Know If Our Formula's Doing the Trick? (Part 1 of 3)

How can a laundry manager determine if they’re getting the best results from the chemical formulas they’re using? For what key quality indicators should they be looking?

May 4, 2006
Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council Accepting Applications

EVANSTON, Ill. — The Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council (HLAC) is now accepting applications through its website at www.hlacnet.org.

The nonprofit HLAC was formed to inspect and accredit laundries processing healthcare textiles for hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare facilities.

April 20, 2006
Board Member Introduces Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce the Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council (HLAC), a nonprofit organization formed for the purpose of inspecting and accrediting laundries responsible for processing textiles for hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare facilities.

March 2, 2006
New Accreditation Council Seeks Input on Healthcare Processing Standards

EVANSTON, Ill. — The Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council (HLAC) is seeking the industry's input on proposed standards by which it will inspect and accredit laundries that process healthcare textiles.

Its fee-based process ($5,000 per plant; owners of multiple plants can receive a 20% discount) will be voluntary, but the HLAC anticipates leading healthcare laundries, both for-profit and not-for-profit, will seek accreditation.