In a healthcare facility, there are many duties that fall on staff and administrators that have nothing to do with patient care. Jay Juffre, ImageFIRST’s Regional Vice President/National Service Director, doesn’t think that those tasks should include managing laundry.
“We believe that there is nothing more important than enabling our clients to focus on patients and patient care, which they can’t do if they’re counting linens, putting deliveries away, filling blanket warmers or checking on product quality,” he said. “That’s why we don’t drop the product and go, leaving the burden on administrators and staff; instead, our customer advocates deliver on our promise of providing cost-effective solutions for greater patient satisfaction.”
To this end, ImageFIRST’s customer advocates manage each client’s inventory so that the healthcare team can focus on the patient. The company’s quality products include sheets, robes, scrubs, gowns, pillowcases and more, and can even include the same style of sheets that are carried by the Ritz-Carlton if a client so requests.
“We deliver a higher quality product, because whether a patient is lying on it or wearing it, the feeling they get permeates their whole experience, and their experience with the entire organization,” explained Juffre. “There’s nothing worse than putting a paper gown on a patient to make that person dissatisfied; if he or she is lying on a piece of paper in the exam room wearing a gown that is not comfortable, than they are not comfortable.
“Whether patients are getting good news or bad news, you want to make them as happy as possible,” he added. “Quality products play a huge role in that.”
By putting patient and client needs first, ImageFIRST has become the largest and fastest growing provider of healthcare laundry services to healthcare facilities through the continental U.S. and Puerto Rico. The company maintains a 97 percent customer retention rate—the highest in the industry.
“We have had a record year in terms of customer retention, and we also earned a net promoter score (NPS) of 81 percent, which is one of the best in the world in all industries,” said Juffre. A net promoter score gauges the loyalty of a company’s customer relationship based on their response to the question: How likely is it that you would recommend our company/product/service to a friend or colleague?
“Our score was higher than Chick-fil-A and Apple, and tied with Harley-Davidson,” Juffre added. “Our client base is happy and the most satisfied that they’ve ever been.”
Manny Llano, CEO of Fort Lauderdale Hospital, a facility specializing in drug addiction, mental health issues and co-occurring disorders, has experienced this commitment to the customer first-hand. “The relationship we have with our ImageFIRST customer advocate is very strong; he is very responsive and able to change and adapt as needed,” he said.
“We’d been working with another company, but made the change to ImageFIRST because of their professionalism, and because they back up the services that they provide,” he added. “They respond to our needs at the drop of a dime and are always available and happy to help.”
Llano also appreciates that ImageFIRST keeps the hospital aware of changes that could improve its bottom line. “We were looking for a partner that would not just be able to manage our inventory and services, but that would stay on top of new technologies and products that could enhance our facility,” he said. “They have done that to our benefit.”
ImageFIRST uses radio frequency identification (RFID) to identify and track all of their garments, which makes inventory reporting easy. The company also introduced an Instant Service App for smartphones that enables clients to easily connect with customer advocates. “By taking our technology up a level and providing this information to our clients, it’s just one less thing that they have to worry about,” said Juffre.
“Our goal is to do whatever we can to enhance the patient experience , and free our clients up to focus on the patient,” he added. “If we do those two things, we are succeeding.”
