Turbulent Economic Times Demand More Efficient Support Service Management For Hospitals: Crothall Services Group Releases Latest Industry Publication

This week, Crothall Services Group has published the latest edition of its industry magazine Celebrations. Hospitals are facing shrinking resources in 2009 as charitable and government financial support diminishes, while dealing with fewer insured patients as unemployment spikes. This quarter's magazine focuses on the most relevant concepts for hospitals: analyzing and promoting ways for hospitals to save money by better managing their support services.

"Our country is in the midst of one of the most turbulent economic times in its history," writes Bobby Kutteh, the president and CEO of Crothall Services Group. "Crothall's goal is to further develop business solutions [for hospitals] that offer cost savings while maintaining exceptional customer service."

Support services are one ideal area for hospitals to manage their budgets, according to Kutteh. Managing administrative staff, maintenance staff, and facilities more effectively frees and focuses resources on the core-critical areas of patient care at which hospitals excel.

In a January press release, the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) revealed that 77% of hospital administrators are worried about financial challenges in 2009. In cities across the country, hospitals are facing cutbacks on staff, equipment, or services to keep pace with declining charitable contributions, government funding, and patient billing.

This month's Celebrations analyzes five different major categories where hospitals can cut or manage support service expenses:
- Effectively monitoring purchasing policies, including adopting preferred vendors and inventory tracking to lower costs and keep from oversupplying
- Controlling equipment life cycles, including planning for preventive maintenance, retiring or moving underutilized equipment, and implementing low-cost, energy-efficient maintenance standards
- Outsourcing support personnel resources, which eliminates the hospital's liabilities for workman's compensation insurance and rapidly rising benefits programs;
- Maximizing employee productivity by implementing methods to assign work orders and track progress while stepping up training for job skills;
- Guaranteeing budgets, through multilayered review processes, advance planning for replacing assets, and controlled and targeted budget adjustments.

The main article in Celebrations outlines eight different areas where effective support services management can save money ("Top 8 Facilities Management Cost-Cutting Strategies"), while two supporting articles explore outsourcing support services and planning long-term equipment strategies in more detail. Delegating these administrative burdens, in Crothall Services Group's assessment, allows hospitals to focus tight financial resources on their core competencies and mission-critical staffing needs without sacrificing quality patient care.

The February edition of Celebrations, as well as an archive of Crothall's publications, is available on their website at www.crothall.com/celebrations/.

About Crothall Services Group
Headquartered in Wayne, Pennsylvania, Crothall Services Group is the highest quality provider of comprehensive facility and support services to healthcare customers. Founded in 1991 and acquired in 2001 by global hospitality services leader Compass Group PLC, the company is responsible for cleaning and maintaining more than 200 million square feet daily. To learn more about the company and its services, contact Crothall at 800-447-4476 or online at www.crothall.com.