CHICAGO — Linen loss.
It’s a constant struggle in the industrial/institutional laundry industry, but it can be more challenging at healthcare and long-term care institutions.
At facilities that provide patient care, there are multiple ways that linen can “disappear,” which can make it difficult to have the necessary linen on hand for users and adds to healthcare linen costs.
The solution? Utilization data gathered through a linen management system. This information provides both the healthcare provider and the laundry a clear picture of how goods are being used and where loss consistently takes place so that linen loss, and cost, can be curtailed.
LINEN LOSS
Linen loss is “money being thrown into the fire,” says Dan Sanchez, president of Algonquin, Illinois-based Sanchez Advisory Group, a consulting firm specializing in the medical industry, commercial laundry services, and related suppliers, during the Association for Linen Management (ALM) webinar “Unveiling the Impact of Optimized Linen Management.”
“According to TRSA in a survey, and some analysis that was done a few years back that I was actually a part of, we estimated that linen loss in the United States is roughly about $840 million. That was a couple of years ago, so I wouldn’t doubt that that’s gone up significantly and probably to the billion-dollar mark.”
Sanchez says that a lot of the loss is a result of premature removal of linen from service in a variety of different ways. It’s also due to improper use, preventing linen from reaching its full lifespan.
“A bath blanket, for example, used underneath a patient to absorb fluids,” he shares. “We see some theft happening, misplacement, and, of course, noncirculating linens.
“I did a walkthrough in a very large facility last year, there was a lot of noncirculating linen. If it’s not circulating, then it’s not in your linen room. It’s not the laundry being processed or being re-delivered to anybody.”
Monique Walker, director of housekeeping for Vi at Grayhawk, a senior living community in Scottsdale, Arizona, cites many reasons for linen loss at her location.
“At our community, common reasons for linen loss are the age of the linen and the fabric choice of the residents—with this, I mean they sometimes choose cheap fabric, and it breaks down quickly,” she says.
Vi at Grayhawk has a care center and an independent living side. The care center has 90 beds, which includes 18 in the Alzheimer’s unit, 36 in the specialized nursing facility and 30 in the assisted living unit. The independent side of the building has 256 apartments with around 400 residents.
“We wash employee uniforms and the linen that comes out of the four dining rooms, which is tablecloths, napkins, bibs and other clothing protectors,” Walker says. “In the care center, in all three venues, we wash sheets, towels, pillowcases, blankets, bed pads, pillows, shower curtains and bedspreads. We also do personal clothing in the care center twice a week aside from the bed linens.
“In the independent venue, we wash sheets, pillowcases, blankets, mattress covers and some personal clothing as well.”
Besides linen age and residents’ personal fabric choices, she says other reasons for linen loss include machine malfunctions and chemicals not dispensing properly so the linen gets damaged; pilferage; and improper loading, which can cause the laundry chemicals to be too strong for linen that is coming out if the load is too low.
“If the load is too high and the machine is being overloaded, that can cause linen loss as well because linen can get damaged from not having proper agitation and have to be taken out of service from staining,” Walker points out.
“Pulling items from the washer and dryer and not being careful can cause linen to get ripped and you lose that linen as well.”
Sanchez reiterates that whether a laundry processes customer-owned goods (COG) or is a rental facility, linen loss drives up textile replacement costs annually.
“Many people have said that the replacement rate for textiles on a COG basis is up to about 19 cents per pound, which is pretty astonishing,” he says.
“If you’re rental, the laundries have the expense, and they pass the loss onto the customer through various methods.”
One method is by using a soil-to-clean ratio. The laundry notes how many clean pounds it delivered and what soil weight should have come back.
“Those pounds that don’t come back, they’re going to charge you somewhere between $3.50 to $5 per pound for every pound that’s not returned,” Sanchez points out. “That can add up to some pretty surprising bills on a monthly or quarterly basis.”
Other ways that operations charge for linen loss include a fixed weekly percentage charge, and building in the replacement cost per pound on the rental with a charge if the actual poundage lost exceeds what’s on the agreement.
“There’s different ways that linen loss happens,” Sanchez says. “We know what happens, and it has to be accounted for.”
Check back Thursday for the conclusion about linen management systems for inventory tracking.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Matt Poe at [email protected].
