Vendor Compliance

Three Things Every Hospital Vendor Badge Should Have

May 6, 2010

Vendormate has been printing badges for sales representatives for several years now. In fact, we recently printed our 1,000,000th badge. One million badges and 850 customers later, we heard pretty consistently what a hospital wants from a badge.

Easier-to-read Vendormate Badge

1. Show Where the Wearer Is Going and Why (Don’t Make Me Ask) — Hospital staff are busy. Stopping to ask every person “do you belong here?” just isn’t feasible. The badge should make it clear where the wearer belongs.

Some hospitals do this by the color of the badge. But our hospital customers have been clear that where they want a vendor representative to have access depends on the nature of that day’s business. If it’s a sales call, then there is no need for the vendor to be cleared for clinical areas. If it’s a consult, then by all means give the rep access. The badge should show the purpose of the visit and where the meeting is occurring.

2. Let Me Know When (And What) Exceptions Are Made — Sometimes the hospital staff needs flexibility. Maybe today is the day that a sales manager is making a one-time visit and all her paperwork isn’t on file. In this case, the risk management value of thoroughness doesn’t necessarily outweigh the timeliness of this visit. So an authorized person at the hospital makes an exception. But it should be clearly noted on the badge so that the rest of the staff is aware.

3. Be Current — Things change. Documents expire. New policies are implemented. One of the best ways to be confident that visiting reps are current is when the badge has today’s date.

Vendormate has taken all this feedback from hospitals and introduced a new badge design. The Vendormate badge meets these requirements with larger font for day and date, more room to display specific departments, facilities, and reasons for a visit, plus a bold header highlighting any compliance issues.

Entry Filed under: Badging, vendor credentials. .