Food and Environmental services must remain a definitive component of not only your care plan, but also a key lever in staff retention.

In 2022, we find ourselves in a familiar yet unsettling situation. The unwelcomed COVID-19 resurgence of the variants is placing yet another severe strain on the capacities of our healthcare system that is still trying to recover from the impacts of the first COVID-19 wave. With U.S. hospitals reporting hundreds of staffing shortages due to burnout combined with the highest levels of new COVID-19-related hospitalizations since the beginning of the pandemic, our health care industry is in dire need of relief. 

When administrators rank a “wish list” of things that could help them provide better care, let’s be honest: their Food and Nutrition Services and Environmental Services departments aren’t usually high on their list. But shouldn’t all patient-centric considerations related to the patient care model be equally ranked and executed? 

Proper nutrition and a properly disinfected environment are critical elements to survival and healing, so it is imperative to find a way to bring the evolving complexities of patient and staff dining and environmental services to the forefront. Food and Environmental services must remain a definitive component of not only your care plan, but a key support for staff retention. 

Here are the top four reasons hospitals are considering outsourcing food and nutrition and environmental services departments in response to the negative impacts experienced during the pandemic. If this is something you are considering, or if you would like to learn more, please complete the survey by clicking on this link:  Survey: https://bit.ly/CHCFoodEVSsolutions

1. Workforce Stability and Staffing
   If you asked anyone in hospital administration today what their No. 1 concern is, the answer will likely be a workforce shortage. This translates into a larger epidemic – staff are burned out from the pandemic, work from home and in-home care jobs are abundant, and COVID-19-related responsibilities are making it difficult to backfill critical health care positions.
   
   Do you find it difficult to fill position vacancies in your Food and Environmental Services departments? Contract firms bring a depth of resources to stabilize culinary and housekeeping responsibilities, and chief among them is labor solutions. While many times the resources include a broader recruiting reach and bandwidth, it can also mean financial benefits that offset the demand for labor. Whatever the motive, entrusting a professional firm specializing in health care Dietary and EVS needs is much like having a trained surgeon restore your health. They are  experts in their respective fields, with specialized strategies, alternative approaches and tools to ensure success.
2. Reducing Employee Burnout
   While hospitals will continue to struggle in maintaining a continual pool of job applicants, administrators can impact employee morale. It is more imperative than ever to recognize, train and retain current talent. Wherever you can inject a slight break in someone’s day, it is always a win!Professional dining providers bring culinary expertise, fresh menu ideas and clear recommendations to turn your onsite dining program into a differentiating employee benefit. Additionally, these contract hospitality providers can inject some much-needed capital investment and provide design expertise into identified opportunities to enhance employee amenities as a differentiating employee fringe benefit.
3. Supply Chain Certainty and Relief
   Outsourced providers have substantial resources for procuring everything from meal ingredients to cleaning solutions and supplies. Having a specialized procurement partner is extremely beneficial during the pandemic, when common goods have become scarce. With national buying contracts, their reach goes beyond the lack of workers, shipping, and overall production. CHC Food and EVS solutions can help in this area by leveraging the overall purchasing power with select partners. This not only minimizes product disruptions but also avoids the unexpected cost increases forced from most shortages. By outsourcing food and nutrition services and environmental services, the burden of a supply shortage can be minimized, patient nutrition maintained and staff satisfaction upheld so clinicians can focus on healing.
4. Inflation Risk Insulation
   In addition to supply chain product shortages, hospital administrators must also consider inflation risks and certain insulation and protection with all of the current global market and geopolitical volatility. By partnering with a hospitality contract provider, there are certain areas where risk can be insulated based on contracted supplier costs of goods.

CHC Food and EVS solutions is strategically positioned to support community providers with select partners. A common myth is that outsourcing negatively impacts the bottom line, but the truth is, strategic third-party partnership models deliver a reimagined program that offers cost-neutral or better financial savings. With a contracted partnership, you can add on best-in-class dining and support services that include access to supply chain and staffing resources to meet your hospital’s needs. Through CHC Food and EVS solutions, CHC aims to offer a value added service to its membership through its select partners. If you are interested in receiving a no cost, risk free evaluation and assessment of your dining and environmental programs to determine potential cost savings and/or improving efficiencies, please click the link below and answer a few questions.  

Survey Link: https://bit.ly/CHCFoodEVSsolutions