The Affordable Care Act has changed the game for hospital food service providers, who are dealing with several new, competing pressures on their departments, according to an article on the Munchies website.
With patient satisfaction scores and readmission rates key to hospital finances, determining patient and cafeteria menus has become a more delicate operation.
Many food service directors are re-calibrating their menu options as a response to the law, searching for a balance of food that will nourish patients, but also leave them with positive feelings about their hospital stay, the article said.
“At the end of the day, quality is king. It really comes down to repayments that are tied to the quality of your outcomes,” Mark Dudek, a marketing director at Unidine, a dining management company that serves hospitals, said in the article.
In one study by FoodService Director Magazine, out of a sampling of 136 hospitals surveyed, 40 percent said that Obamacare would impact their food service department, and 20 percent said Obamacare would greatly impact their food service.
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