Healthcare Hospitality Consulting

IHS treats food service ills at health care facilities

IHS helps hospitals, health systems and continuing-care clients with consulting and planning for patient dining, retail food service, coffee bars, catering, gift stores and vending operations.

Typical challenges faced:

  • Sagging Press Ganey or other patient satisfaction scores that are detrimental to the overall performance of the hospital.
  • Lacking variety and quality of healthful food choices for employees and patients, sending mixed messages about the importance of nutrition to good health.
  • Underperforming, inefficient and slow employee food service for hospital care staff who normally only have thirty (30) minutes to eat, causing loss in productivity.
  • Determining if an outsourced food and nutrition program is more beneficial for the hospital or system.
  • Determining the right services to be provided for growing building/campus populations.

Results with IHS:

  • Proven strategies for programs that result in higher patient satisfaction scores that can result in increased reimbursements for health care facilities that file with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
  • Menu engineering ideas and best practices that drive improved healing by providing nutritious and well-balanced food.
  • Introduction of proven retail programs and technology that drive customer speed of service and satisfaction.
  • Feasibility studies that quantify the potential of increased commission, lower costs and capital investment to drive food and nutrition service facilities and innovations.
  • Programming and strategic plans for more efficient and effective services to meet health system goals and drive program participation.

Prestigious Hospital Transitions Seamlessly to New Operator

IHS Case Study:   

Crosscheck Case Study - onsite food service evaluation
Challenge – Short Timeline to Replace Incumbent Operator​

The management of a prestigious 800-bed hospital in a major U.S. city was dissatisfied with the foodservice operator serving their patients and the in-house retail cafés. The client was eager to have a completely new vendor installed in less than nine months, and a field of six operators were identified to potentially take over the foodservice. The challenge was to create a comprehensive Request for Proposal and vetting process that would avoid the mistakes of the last operator relationship, define the most critical deliverables, and guarantee success.


Solution – A Rigorous Operator Selection Process

IHS worked with the hospital’s upper management and C-suite executives to develop a specifics-heavy RFP that would identify the best fit for the hospital. After managing the pre-qualification process, IHS brought in six candidate companies for two-hour “Visioning Sessions” that allowed the operators to present their value propositions and records of success. After careful deliberation the selection committee narrowed the field to three finalists. IHS then led the evaluations of proposals and coordinated a second round of reviews that included intensive presentations of operator capabilities and thorough proposal cross-examinations.

Results – From Operator Selection to Full Implementation​​

IHS and hospital leadership determined the best operator for the job, and IHS negotiated the contract to make sure that the commitment would match the proposal. Time was also short for managing the transition—which had to be seamless and accomplished on a single day. During the three months between selection and transition, IHS, the hospital management, and the new vendor met weekly to stay ahead of key milestones. The transition was a complete success, even incorporating new patient software and automated spoken menu ordering on day one. IHS also built in operator accountability to the program by scheduling full, semi-annual quality assurance assessments powered by the IHS CrossCheck tool.

How Two Hospitality Contractors Can Be Better Than One

IHS Case Study: Cleveland Clinic

Crosscheck Case Study - onsite food service evaluation
Challenge – Managing Delicate Transition to Two Operators​

Cleveland Clinic had an interesting predicament: Its food and hospitality needs had become too large for one provider to manage. On the advice of IHS, the Clinic’s administration decided to split the business across two providers. With a short timeline of 60 days, the Cleveland Clinic needed to transition from one to two national contractors without any disruption to service.

Solution – Take Leadership Role in Defining Responsibilities

IHS steered Cleveland Clinic and two contractors to a solution and embraced its role as subject matter expert representing the Client stakeholders. First, IHS outlined transition activities and established clear rules of engagement for each operator based on portfolio and client needs. Then they defined roles for project completion with project managers from each entity and updated senior leadership throughout the transition with executive briefings and reports.

Results – IHS Delivered on Scope, Safety, and a Seamless Transition​​

IHS guaranteed a smooth transition by setting clear expectations and defining specific responsibilities for each operator. The Cleveland Clinic experienced no service disruption, passed safety requirements handily, and increased retail revenues from day one. The Clinic also improved food quality, customer service, and overall nutrition value across the enterprise, based on Press Ganey quality assurance scores.

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