Measuring the Success of Your Linen Management Program

Measuring the Success of Your Linen Management Program

In recent blogs, we talked about how to calculate the Clean/Soil ratio with examples of how linen loss costs can occur from both the “clean” and “soil” side of the ratio. This month’s blog defines another metric to help you measure success of your linen management program. 

Linen pounds per adjusted patient day (lbs./APD) measures the amount of linen used by a healthcare facility per patient, adjusted for the number of patients seen each day. These data are important for healthcare facilities to track as it can help you understand your linen usage patterns, identify areas where you may be able to reduce usage, and save money.

How Do I Calculate lbs./APD?

To calculate lbs./APD, you take the total weight of clean linen delivered per month and divide that by the number of adjusted patient days. This allows for a more accurate measurement of linen usage based on the number of patients seen, rather than just the total weight of linen used.

There is no single national benchmark for lbs./APD, as this metric can vary significantly depending on a range of factors, including the type of healthcare facility, the types of patients seen, the specific linen usage patterns and even the region of the country. According to Encompass Group, LLC’s latest publication (2019-2020), the national average for lbs./APD is 13.2. It is worth noting that while industry benchmarks can be a useful reference point, it is important for you to evaluate your own lbs./APD metric in the context of your specific circumstances and use it to identify areas for improvement and optimization.

How Can This Save Me Money?

Here is an example showing how much you could save annually by decreasing your lbs./APD by one.

If 1,500,000 lbs. of clean linen are delivered annually and your APD for the year is 150,000, your lbs./APD equals 10. If your rate is $0.55/lb. of clean linen, your cost would be $825,000.

Now if you decrease the amount of clean linen delivered to 1,350,000 lbs., with the same APD, your lbs./APD would be 9. At the same rate, your clean linen cost would be $742,500, saving you $82,500 for that year.

What Else is Important?

In addition to calculating your lbs./APD data, you should also track your inventory by comparing your clean pounds delivered with your APD. You would expect to need more linen when your APD increases. However, if you see that the trend of clean pounds delivered is greater than the trend of your APD, you may be ordering too much linen which will increase your linen costs.

Here is an analogy that may help this make sense. You are renting a car for your vacation so you order a mid-size for your family of four. Then you invite two friends to join you so you need to order more seats and upgrade to the minivan. Just like when your APD increases, you order more linen. Yet, if the two friends do not go on the trip you still have to pay for the increased cost of the minivan like when your APD decreases, you’ll still pay for the extra linen delivered unless you modify the linen order or, as part of the analogy, go back to the mid-size car.

What Can I Do?

One strategy that you can use to reduce your linen usage and improve your lbs./APD data is to encourage staff to use linens more responsibly. This might include educating staff on the importance of minimizing linen waste, providing guidelines for linen usage, and monitoring linen usage patterns to identify areas where staff may need additional support.

Here are helpful ideas to get you started:

  • Avoid hoarding linen in blanket warmers and closets
  • Only take linen that you need
  • Do not use linen for positioning aids
  • Only change the top sheet or thermal blanket when soiled
  • Decrease bed changes to as needed and as requested
  • Eliminate washcloths if using bath wipes
  • Only use a drawsheet for patients that need help
  • Decrease use of heavier items such as thermal blankets

Tracking your data is a crucial step in understanding your linen management program and HandCraft is here to help. Once you see your trends, you can identify areas for improvement in your linen usage. By implementing linen inventory strategies, you will see a reduction of your lbs./APD which can decrease your linen costs without compromising patient care.

Contact HandCraft for more information

If you are looking for the right partner to help prevent linen loss and decrease your linen loss costs, you found us. We have the experience, the industry-backed expertise, the technology and the professionals to help you achieve your goals. Remember to look at our Linen Awareness Program – healthcare linen management strategies that save costs and improve service.

Call us today at (888) 358-8671 or reach us here for more information on our services.

About the Author

Dyan Troxel, MSN, RN

Dyan is a registered nurse with experience in several clinical and non-clinical settings including Surgical ICU, Neonatal ICU, Education, Process Improvement, and Healthcare Leadership.