Simplify Outpatient Medical Clinic Inventory Management
December 5, 2022 by Nixon MedicalMedical clinic inventory management can be incredibly challenging for busy office managers, especially when it comes to medical apparel and linens. Office managers typically juggle several roles, combined with the pressures of ensuring excellent care in a timely manner, and the responsibility of making patients comfortable. But with the right linen inventory management system, you can eliminate headaches, streamline processes, and make life easier.
The key is understanding the best way to eliminate waste in your facility by finding a reliable medical apparel and linens partner who will take the weight of inventory management off your shoulders without sacrificing consistency.
Outpatient facilities need service providers who won’t waste time or resources with stringent, inefficient, and wasteful practices. A tailored and deliberate approach is necessary to supply an outpatient facility with the proper inventory effectively. Otherwise, you’re looking at unnecessary increases in your budget from poor inventory management. This all starts with mastering your medical apparel and linen inventory management, and we have tips to help you do that.
Understand Your Inventory Levels & Trends
Outpatient medical facilities often find that their medical apparel and linen needs fluctuate monthly or weekly. Patient volume in outpatient clinics can change drastically in a matter of hours, even. By understanding your scheduling trends and inventory needs—and working with a vendor that flexes alongside your patient volume, you can ensure that you always have enough inventory to get through the day without wasting resources and storage space on products you won’t use. Carefully documenting your usage can make you aware of trends to manage your inventory more effectively.
Customize Products Based on Your Schedule
In an outpatient facility, you can run the gamut from in-depth procedures to quick examinations. That means your medical laundry and linen management needs to meet the needs of these various operations. It’s vital that you make sure your inventory can sufficiently support both clinician and patient apparel and linen needs through these fluctuations. Tailoring your medical inventory management to your procedure schedule will help eliminate waste without restricting necessary items.
Optimize Medical Apparel and Linen Use
One of the most critical inventory management techniques for medical supplies is to optimize their use. This is particularly true when it comes to medical apparel and linens. Staff use of linens can become a second thought, leading to overuse or underuse of your supply. Encouraging the careful use of your medical linens is vital to efficient medical clinic inventory management. While you should never reuse soiled linens, there are safe and measured sustainability practices that your facility can implement to reduce costs and ensure adequate stock while maintaining a clean and safe environment.
Outsource to a Reliable Medical Linen Partner
The easiest way to keep your medical laundry and linen management efficient and reliable is to choose a medical linen supplier who will work with you. Flexibility and consistency are vital to your operations in an outpatient facility, and your medical apparel and linen provider needs to understand and deliver this. They should be aware of everything mentioned above, and work in tandem with you to ensure reliable deliveries, pickups, laundering, organization, and communication to eliminate any extra frustration that would take your focus off the patient experience.
Time to Consider Nixon Medical
Medical supply inventory management is a more frustrating and time-consuming aspect of an outpatient facility manager’s daily duties. Nixon Medical can ease the burden while delivering reliable and cost-efficient medical apparel and linen solutions to your outpatient facility.
As a leading medical apparel and linens provider, we’re trusted by 10,000+ medical centers nationwide. Our highly responsive and accessible Route Service Representatives, plus Xpert Inventory Management™ and storage solutions, ensure every item in your facility is tracked through intelligent inventory management solutions, ensuring you always have garments available without wasting resources on unnecessary stock. And when unexpected needs arise, we deliver at no added cost!
We provide fully managed HLAC-accredited laundry, product fulfillment, and inventory management services, delivered with our industry-recognized Nixon Medical Service Difference™. When you sign an agreement with us, you can expect:
- Easy payment solutions
- No minimums required, ever
- Free deliveries for unexpected needs
- Contact-free service model
- Anytime access to route service representative
Contact us to schedule your free consultation today.