By Daniel Casciato
ImageFIRST continued its growth in 2021. Over the past year, the company expanded its national footprint and are now located in more markets across the nation— making them the largest provider of medical linen in the United States, according to Jay Juffre, Executive Vice President of ImageFIRST.
“We were able to acquire a few companies and expanded our number of processing facilities as well, including a new facility in Lakeland, Florida,” he says.
The pandemic hasn’t had a negative impact on the business, he notes. On the contrary, it has allowed ImageFIRST to revolutionize how it has conducted its business.
“We started manufacturing fluid resistant gowns and came up with some additional creative ways to help our clients,” explains Juffre. “We’ve always been very customer-focused and since there are products that are being limited in supply chains, we asked ourselves how can we better help our clients. Doing new things like accelerating manufacturing was the solution. We wanted to continue to be a resource for our clients.”
Last month, ImageFIRST was selected to receive the 2021 Emerging Workplace Giving Partner of the Year Award, presented by ALSAC and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Through payroll contributions, a company match, and various other donations, ImageFIRST has donated over $600,000 to benefit the children’s research hospital since the partnership began.
ImageFIRST’s goal has always been to help positively impact patient care and make life easier for the staff that is taking care of the patients.
“We manage the linen program so your staff can focus on the patient,” says Juffre. “Many of our products are designed to increase patient satisfaction. Most health systems, hospitals, and doctors, have two top priorities: patient care and staff engagement. The linen is just a by-product of helping our clients achieve their number one and number two goals.”
The rising costs of supplies this past year has impacted many healthcare facilities and has been difficult for everybody, Juffre acknowledges.
“Prices and inflation are going through the roof right now,” he says. “These challenges are real. Inflation is at a 13-year high, everything is going up and the price of gasoline is also impacting the deliveries of supplies.”
While price increases are inevitable at any company, ImageFIRST aims to only increase prices once a year, and they have been able to maintain that through 2021.
“One thing we’re doing for our clients right now is eating all of the increased costs rather than unexpectedly increase the cost to our customer. We were able to hold our pricing firm for 2021 and delay any increases until next year,” says Juffre. “We’re doing that by becoming more efficient with routing and in our production facilities. Creating a partnership with our clients is key and part of that partnership is trying to ensure that our clients can take care of patients right now and not worry about unprojected costs.”
Juffre says another one of their client’s pain points is balancing patient care with patient safety.
“Something that most health systems want to do is maintain a good connection with their patients,” he says. “With social distancing and mask mandates, it’s been a challenge. What we’re trying to do is be a resource to them so they can keep everybody safe, and at the same time, make sure that patients feel comfortable. Some of our products are designed to do that, such as the gown line and scrub lines we manufacture.”
This past year, ImageFIRST took its RFID technology to another level in terms of their ability to manage scrub programs and fluid resistant gowns. During the pandemic last year, the company started manufacturing its own line of fluid resistant isolation gowns.
“We added RFID chips to all our scrubs and isolation gowns to track what’s coming and going, as well as to better manage our clients’ needs.” says Juffre. “RFID technology is big in the medical world, and we’ve always been on the cutting edge of that in terms of tracking inventory, especially as it comes to scrubs. Our ScrubVAULT® System helps them manage scrubs, mops, towels, and other products. It has been great for our clients.”
The ScrubVAULT® System allows full accountability for the scrubs being used and by whom. Providers are able to better manage their inventory because the system relies on UHF RFID chip technology. This ensures providers have the scrubs they need when they need it, making it more beneficial to them and ultimately, also to their patients by freeing up staff to focus more on patient care.
Health systems right now should be looking for true partners that want to work with them through the rest of the pandemic and through these rising costs, adds Juffre.
“ImageFIRST has always been a company that truly wants to be the partner our customers can’t live without,” he says. “I encourage them to do that with all their vendor partners. Let’s get through this together and let’s make sure that patients get the best care they can.”
For more information, visit www.imagefirst.com or call (800) 368-3676. Please note: New customers should call (800) 932-7472.
