If a company or organization is looking to cut down on costs, one of the first things it might do is try to perform its own services, rather than sending something out for other professionals to handle. But Jay Juffre explains why, at least in the case of ImageFIRST, that may not be a good idea.ImageFIRST is the largest and fastest-growing provider of laundry services to medical practices throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. As Juffre, South East Regional Vice President and National Service Director, explained, "We’re the cost-effective solution to greater patient satisfaction. What’s going on right now in the healthcare world is that they are trying to provide better care at a lower cost. So by us managing the linen program for our clients, it frees up their staff to focus on the patient and on delivering healthcare."
He gave the example that somebody working in a surgery center who has to worry about taking care of linens is taking time away from healthcare and the patient. "So by allowing us to manage the program, it’s saving them money in the long run; but more importantly it ends up saving them time. It allows their staff to do other things. And we’re seeing a trend, a lot of places used to try to do what we do in-house, but frankly it’s just easier to let a company like us take care of it for them. We take them out of the linen business and keep them in the healthcare business."
By design, ImageFIRST focuses strictly on the healthcare industry. Juffre explained the simple reasoning behind that decision: "Specialization allows you to be excellent in what you do. So rather than be a jack of all trades, we prefer to focus on healthcare. One, it allows us to be excellent, but it also allows us to meet and exceed our clients’ needs. By that I mean, we can treat the linen a certain way, we can make sure it’s safe, package it a certain way. But if you bring in hospitality, if you bring in other types of linen for other types of clients, it makes it difficult to keep our product safe and at the high level of specialization we offer."
Because of the focus on service and attention to detail, ImageFIRST has a 97.5 percent rate of customer retention – the highest in the business. Jeff Katz, who is vice president of HCA Healthcare and leads its surgery centers in Southeast Florida, said HCA has been using ImageFIRST’s services for eight years – providing all types of linens, from bedsheets and pillowcases to scrubs and patient gowns. Katz said one of the things he appreciates most about ImageFIRST is the company’s response to any issues that come up. "They’re quick to respond and assist, and the quality of their product is very good."
Juffre explained that ImageFIRST is able to have such a quick response time because of the "amazing technology that we have behind what we do." He said the team of delivery drivers – called customer advocates – is well trained and very professional. "In addition, we have smartphone technology supporting those people. Each customer advocate has a smartphone that helps them manage the inventory – it’s not like a piece of paper that can be mixed up. Because of the technology, our clients have access to that information, so they know what’s going on. We want to be transparent and we have to manage to their needs. That can be challenging, especially when you have surgery centers where their volume of cases go up and down; but technology allows us to stay ahead of that. We have professionals serving professionals."
The technology is just another way ImageFIRST focuses on improved patient care. Juffre believes that clients want to make a safe decision when it comes to who is providing their medical linens, and the company’s proven track record and excellent reputation go a long way. "So we’re very good at what we do, but more importantly, I think they want someone they can have confidence in. As a result we continue to grow, and we really help improve patient care – we’re less focused on the linen and more focused on how we can help our clients take care of the patient and improve the patient experience.
"I think our clients – the people who choose to do business with us – really appreciate our approach to what we do."
