Healthcare is becoming more and more competitive. From mergers and giant conglomerates to the reduction in elective procedures due to COVID-19 to the changes in healthcare legislation, hospitals across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and the greater Philadelphia area are facing a reality that includes reduced profits.

There's one commonality between those factors we just listed. In most cases, controlling acquisitions, legislation, and the impacts of COVID-19 are outside the areas of control for most hospital executives. But the one thing that is within the boundaries of control is patient satisfaction.

Today's relationship between healthcare providers and the patients they serve is complicated and complex, but just because it might be hard to understand doesn't mean it's not important. In fact, it's critical, and the main way this relationship is determined is through patient satisfaction surveys.

Many things are measured. How are doctors and nurses at the bedside? How clean are the facilities? How comfortable are families and guests of patients? These factors are all taken into consideration when it comes to patient satisfaction, and the bottom line result is the scores impact a hospital's bottom line. Government reimbursement rates for hospitals and healthcare facilities across the country are largely dependent on the scores those facilities get in patient satisfaction surveys.

So clearly there's a link between profit and patient satisfaction, and while we listed out a few considerations in those surveys, we left out the most important one -- foodservice. Of all the factors surveyed, the foodservice experience is most often the top factor that contributes to satisfaction scores.

The next step is to determine easy ways to increase the quality of healthcare foodservice, and soon, we'll have some great news to share.

In reality, there havn't been many innovations in the world of healthcare foodservice over the last several decades. Despite the fact healthcare foodservice programs are become more chef-driven in nature, higher-quality foods created with greater consideration still has to make it from the kitchen to the bedside, and no matter who's doing the cooking, that can create problems.

Over the next few weeks, we're going to introduce you to a new, groundbreaking solution for moving meals from the kitchen to the patient without compromising any quality, and we have the data to back those claims.

Stay tuned for an important, upcoming announcement from One Source and our partners at Lakeside!