Healthcare Foodservice: Reduce the Gap between Quality and Cost

When we talk about poor temperature maintenance, we are not only addressing the taste but also the financial impact on a facility. Because patient satisfaction scores affect the amount of Medicare reimbursement to hospitals, healthcare operators are pressured to increase revenue, improve quality while cutting cost. What works against this effort is that patients receiving foods at less-than-desired temperatures don’t hesitate to send it back to the kitchen which accumulates into a tremendous amount of food and financial waste each year.

Healthcare operators are interested in reliable heat retention solutions that help overcome the challenge of keeping foods hot longer in order to minimize the number of returned plates and reduce the gap between quality and cost.

For Shea Family Care of Victoria in California, the ideal solution for keeping hot foods hot longer is Cambro’s Camduction Complete Heat System. This past year less food was thrown away because of temperature issues, and complaints about cold food on patient trays has been reduced to virtually zero.

“It’s really great at keeping the food hot all the way to the room,” says Anette Perea, BS, CDM-CFPP, Director of Dietary Services.

“We’re built around room service,” says Sam Samuels, RD, LD Food and Nutrition Director at Texas Health Harris Methodist Southwest Fort Worth Hospital in Texas. “Room service and the improved tray temperatures brought by Camduction have contributed to a noticeable increase in patient satisfaction as Press Ganey scores have increased by 40-45%,” noted Sam.

Reliable heat retention solutions help improve patient experience and help staff focus on providing a more pleasant service instead of spending time on replacing meals. As a result patient satisfaction scores increase.

For more information about temperature maintenance solutions visit www.cambro.com/healthcare.