Crothall Healthcare CEO Mike Villani on the Future of Healthcare Support Services

September 18, 2026 – Crothall Healthcare CEO Mike Villani recently shared his perspective on the future of healthcare support services, discussing how innovation, operational excellence, and trusted partnerships are helping hospitals improve patient care and operational performance. Read the full interview below.

This interview with Crothall Healthcare CEO Mike Villani originally appeared on Investment Reports and is republished here with permission. The original publication has been designated as the canonical source. 

You became CEO a year ago, after years of leading Crothall’s largest environmental services division. What did that experience reveal about the role support services play in patient care?

Support services have historically operated in the background, but hospital leaders increasingly recognize that they are integral to the care process. Their greatest impact is often on patient flow and capacity. Hospitals may assume they need more beds or additional space when, in many cases, the real opportunity is to use their existing capacity more effectively. Environmental services determines whether rooms are clean, sanitized and ready; patient transport controls movement across the hospital; patient observation ensures nursing teams continue operating at the top of their licenses; sterile processing services is a critical function to the surgical process; and facilities management shapes the environment in which care is delivered.

Together, these services touch almost every stage of the patient journey, from the moment someone enters the building to how they move through it and experience their surroundings. Our central objective is to relieve clinical teams of nonclinical responsibilities so they can concentrate on caring for patients. Once hospitals view support services as an integrated ecosystem rather than a collection of separate functions, their contribution becomes much more visible.

Where do failures in hospital support services create the most serious bottlenecks?

Patient transport is one of the most critical components of hospital flow because it influences every movement through the system. When a patient is not transported to their destination on time, the delay can have a ripple effect across care delivery, impacting clinicians, procedural teams, diagnostic testing and examinations. Environmental services is equally important: a bed may technically be available, but if the room has not been cleaned, disinfected, and turned over, the emergency department cannot move the next patient into it.

The most valuable measures include transport response and completion times, environmental service discharge times, delays and cancellations, the time a patient spends in the emergency department, and the interval between a bed becoming available and being ready for occupancy. We also look at the broader impact of patient transport, including the experience of patients, nurses and clinicians, as well as whether transportation delays affect the timing of operating-room procedures or other scheduled care. Each measure provides a different view of how effectively the hospital is moving patients through care.

At one hospital, Crothall’s centralized transport program returned an estimated 20,000 clinical hours to patient care. What changed?

By centralizing transport and providing real-time visibility across the patient journey, we ensured patients arrived for tests and procedures on time, returned promptly to their units, and moved through the hospital with greater predictability. Nurses and clinical staff no longer had to spend valuable time tracking patients, coordinating transport, or resolving delays. Instead, they were able to focus on what matters most: patient care.

Our technology connected every transport request, patient movement, and service dependency into a single operational view. Leaders could see bottlenecks before they occurred, proactively deploy resources, and coordinate services such as transport and environmental services in real time. When patient movement becomes predictable, clinicians spend less time managing logistics and more time delivering care.

How is technology changing infection prevention, workforce management and operating-room readiness?

Ultraviolet-C (UVC) light technology should reinforce skilled cleaning and disinfection, not replace it. Its value lies in strengthening standardized protocols and providing additional data to support infection prevention and patient safety. These efforts have broader implications for capacity, patient flow, financial performance and clinical risk, making the ability to demonstrate that critical processes have been completed consistently and effectively increasingly important.

Our digital platform uses AI to strengthen task and labor management, transforming operational data into actionable, real-time insights. It provides visibility into where work is happening, how long tasks take and how effectively resources are deployed, enabling managers to anticipate needs and make proactive decisions. Beyond labor and task management, our work with Ascendco Health adds defect visibility and multi-site data in sterile processing. There is no room for error in sterile processing. Every tray, case cart, and instrument must be verified for accuracy, cleanliness, sanitation, and readiness. That assurance cannot depend solely on visual inspection or word of mouth – it must be supported by the system.

What can dedicated patient-observation teams contribute without becoming a substitute for nursing capacity?

Dedicated patient observation teams protect and extend nursing capacity by allowing clinicians to focus on direct patient care, rather than constant observation duties. Consider this – approximately two nurses are assaulted every hour in U.S. hospitals. A dedicated observation team not only returns valuable time to bedside care but also helps create a safer environment by identifying risks early, de-escalating situations, and providing continuous patient engagement.

The goal is not to replace nurses, but to strengthen the care team. When observation staff operate within clear protocols and escalation pathways, hospitals improve safety, enhance the patient experience, and allow clinicians to practice at the top of their license. Simply put, patient observation programs don’t replace nursing capacity, they protect it, extend it, and make care environments safer for everyone.

When a hospital outsources support services, what must remain the responsibility of hospital leadership?

Hospital leadership must retain ownership of governance, strategic direction, and outcomes. While an experienced service partner may assume day-to-day operational responsibility, accountability for defining success, setting expectations, and overseeing performance remains with hospital leadership.

The most successful relationships occur when the service provider is viewed not as a vendor, but as an extension of the hospital leadership team. Through a disciplined governance structure, both organizations align on goals, metrics, and priorities, creating shared accountability and enabling challenges to be addressed collaboratively. This partnership model is what ultimately drives sustainable performance and better patient, employee, and financial outcomes.

Support services often experience high employee turnover. What has proved most effective in building a stable workforce?

Healthcare is a demanding industry, and the workforce pressures affecting clinical care extend across the healthcare environment, including the essential support services that help hospitals operate effectively. Building stability requires a specialized approach to recruitment, followed by effective onboarding, meaningful engagement, recognition and clearly defined career pathways. Employees need to see a future for themselves, whether that means growing within Crothall or pursuing opportunities within the hospital where they work.

For many, our services can be an entry point into a broader healthcare career. An employee may join one of our teams, discover new opportunities within the health system and advance through education, training and professional support. That is why we create two pathways for growth – one within Crothall and another within our partner hospitals. Putting people first means investing in the entire employee journey, from recruitment and onboarding to development, mobility and long-term career growth.