Make yourself indispensable and advance your career! Plan your education for 2017. Visit AHE’s brand-new 2017 ENGAGE site to learn more about educational courses, podcasts, webinars, and events. And make sure to check out AHE's new EXPRESS Learning Courses. EXPRESS is a mobile learning platform that offers educational podcasts delivered by environmental services and infection prevention thought leaders. You asked for learning opportunities that require less of a time commitment and we delivered!

AHE has started this initiative to encourage professionals in the field to begin, or continue to refer to the departments and the personnel caring for the healthcare environment as environmental services professionals rather than as housekeepers, janitors and custodians. The staff and management teams responsible for maintaining the clinical environment of care require different skills and competencies from those needed in the commercial cleaning and general maintenance industry and it's time we address this critical distinction.

Please help us redefine healthcare environmental services!

James Merlino, M.D. and Bobby Kutteh, Health Facilities Management
To be successful in today’s rapidly evolving, consumer-driven health care marketplace, hospitals and health systems must aggressively protect and promote their brand by maximizing the value of the care experience in the eyes of their patients.

Heather Punke, Becker's Infection Control & Clinical Quality
CMS updated its Hospital Compare database in December, which included an update to its Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating program.

Facility Executive
Housekeeping work, whether in a hotel or hospital, can be dangerous work.

Paul Curtis, Healthcare Facilities Today
After decades of relative obscurity, bed bugs (Cimex lectularius) re-emerged in a dramatic fashion, and infestations have become increasingly common.

Heather Punke, Becker's Infection Control & Clinical Quality
Nearly 800 hospitals received word in December they would face Medicare reimbursement cuts because of high infection rates — but Riverside Medical Center in Kankakee, Ill., hasn't been penalized under the Hospital-Acquired Conditions Reduction Program since the program started in 2015.

Infection Control Today
Although cases of Zika virus infection appear to be decreasing, the mosquito-borne virus likely will become endemic in the Americas and continue to cause outbreaks and sporadic cases.

Korin Miller, Self
Every year, you’re encouraged to get a flu shot before flu season rolls around, and you may or may not actually take that advice.

Susan Scutti, CNN
One family of superbugs, known as carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae or CRE, may be spreading more widely than previously thought, according to a study published Monday (PDF) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Kenneth Burke, Tech.co
If you’re lucky, one of your everyday employees will demonstrate an ability to manage people, delegate tasks, and take responsibility for ongoing projects.

Brian Rashid, Forbes
Everyone is talking about leadership.

By Carl Solomon Sr., MBA, FAHE, CHESP

By Carrie Schuster

We need YOU! AHE is gathering input from environmental services departments across the country to identify baseline staffing productivity standards. The results of this data gathering will be used in building staffing models and providing metrics for environmental services directors. You can be a key player in identifying and establishing these important staffing criteria for our industry.

To acknowledge the ongoing and outstanding sustainability efforts of healthcare facilities - and environmental service departments in particular - the AHE presents the Environmental Sustainability Certificate Program. This program not only provides guidance on efficient, effective and value-added environmentally sustainable healthcare operations, but also provides it in such a way that is achievable within all budgets.