ISSA Launches Health Hygiene Certification

ROSEMONT, IL -- ISSA, The Association for Cleaning and Facility Solutions, has launched a Healthcare Environmental Hygiene Professional Certification (HEHP), a three-tier training program designed to build a consistent framework of environmental hygiene standards for in-house environmental services teams and healthcare professionals responsible for cleaning, disinfection, and patient care.

This certification is designed for hospital, ambulatory care center, long-term care facility, and other healthcare facility teams seeking a modern, standardized approach to environmental hygiene training and performance improvement

Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI), re-emerging diseases and antimicrobial resistance remain the most pressing challenges facing hospitals and healthcare systems in the United States.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on any given day about 1 in 31 hospital patients has at least one healthcare associated infection, driving billions of dollars each year in avoidable healthcare costs, longer stays, readmissions, reputational damage, and operational strain.

Developed collaboratively by environmental service (EVS) leaders, infection preventionists, nursing professionals, and healthcare industry thought leaders, HEHP is grounded in customer input, current science, and evidence-based cleaning and disinfection standards to help address the real-world challenges healthcare organizations face every day like mitigating the spread of HAI.

Delivered onsite at the healthcare facility through classroom instruction and hands-on practicums, the program integrates infection prevention principles and the science behind the work at every level.

“Environmental hygiene plays a critical role in infection prevention, patient confidence, and overall healthcare quality,” said ISSA Executive Director Kim Althoff. “The ISSA Healthcare Environmental Hygiene Professional Certification was created to provide healthcare organizations with a practical, scalable, and measurable framework that elevates environmental services from a task-oriented function to a strategic component of patient safety and operational excellence.”

Unlike many traditional healthcare cleaning education offerings, HEHP delivers a more comprehensive and integrated approach to environmental hygiene improvement.

The program combines three core elements:

• Foundational and advanced environmental hygiene education focused on evidence-based cleaning and disinfection practices for healthcare environments.
• Hands-on competency development and workforce training designed to improve consistency, accountability, and frontline staff performance.
• Measurement, validation, and continuous improvement strategies that help healthcare organizations monitor outcomes and sustain long-term improvements.

HEHP is intended to help healthcare facilities:

• Improve consistency of the competencies and skills needed for cleaning and disinfection.
• Integrate EVS teams as a core member of the interprofessional patient care team.
• Enhance interprofessional communication.
• Incorporate evidence-based infection prevention principles through every level of the training process.
• Improve implementation of skill trained through in-person instruction, hands-on practicum, and onsite semiannual observational visits.

“Healthcare leaders are under increasing pressure to improve outcomes while managing staffing challenges and rising operational costs,” said Linda Lybert, executive director of ISSA Healthcare Surfaces Institute. “This program helps organizations establish a culture of environmental hygiene excellence that is measurable, sustainable, and directly connected to patient care.”

Additional information about the ISSA Healthcare Environmental Hygiene Program is available at issa.com/hehp.