Disinfection and cleaning in dental office. Cleaning procedure in modern dental clinic after receiving patient. Concept of cleanliness and health. Patient safety in modern medical conditions.


Key Takeaways:
• Healthcare is becoming a major growth market for BSCs.
• Specialized training is essential for healthcare cleaning.
• Healthcare accounts can offer greater long-term stability.

Building service contractors (BSCs) servicing the commercial cleaning industry are steadily diversifying their services and looking to new facility types to grow their business. Although commercial facilities still represent 76 percent of BSC customer portfolios, the “2026 Report on the Building Service Contractor Market,” by Contracting Profits, identifies healthcare as a growing target for contractors on the rise. In fact, half of the BSCs surveyed now target healthcare as they continue to grow.

The shift is not surprising. Many contract cleaning companies are well-positioned to meet the needs of medical facilities, thanks to an increased focus on cleaning for health in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the rapid growth of outpatient medical offices has driven demand for specialized cleaning services—a trend that presents opportunities for BSCs looking to expand their portfolios.

Research appears to support this transition. The study “Inpatient to Outpatient Shifts in Surgical Care: Persistence of COVID-19 Era Changes and Socioeconomic Variations” found medical procedures continue to move from traditional hospitals to outpatient settings, including ambulatory surgery centers and medical offices. Cost pressures, advances in medical technology, and the growth of minimally invasive procedures have all contributed to this ongoing trend.

Kathleen Bands, CEO of My Cleaning Service Inc., experienced this change several years ago when her commercial office building clients began leasing open space to urgent care operations, dental offices, eye care doctors, and physical therapists.

“It’s eating away at our normal office portfolio as those vacant spaces transition into medical offices,” she says. “We had no choice but to start adapting.”

Fortunately, Bands was equipped to meet the growing needs of these healthcare facilities. She attributes this smooth transition to the company’s Cleaning Industry Management Standard (CIMS) certification, which standardizes cleaning practices and assures healthcare clients that services meet those standards. Still, she admits there was a learning curve.

“The expectations in these medical suites were different,” Bands notes. “As a result, we started to learn that our production rate would be much lower and the scope of work much higher.”

While cleaning for health has become standard across many industries, the healthcare sector demands an even more rigorous level of cleaning and disinfection to protect patients vulnerable to infection. Moreover, the steady flow of patients, visitors, and staff through medical facilities places greater demands on common areas and restrooms, requiring more frequent cleaning and disinfection of high-touch surfaces than in other commercial buildings.

For Gosia Baran, Founder and President of Helping Hands Commercial Cleaning, this elevated approach to cleaning aligned with her core values and fueled her interest in expanding into the healthcare market. The company started as a residential cleaning service, branched into commercial accounts, and started cleaning small dental offices, med spas, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) rooms four years ago.

“My goal has always been to elevate cleaning to the next level and make the invisible visible,” she says.

For this reason, expanding into healthcare cleaning was a natural progression for Baran’s company. Its frontline workers were already trained in color-coded cleaning protocols to help prevent cross-contamination, while supervisors routinely conducted on-site inspections using adenosine triphosphate testing (ATP) metrics to verify cleaning effectiveness and ensure compliance.

Even with a strong foundation, the unique challenges of cleaning healthcare environments became clear to Baran when she volunteered to train environmental services (EVS) staff at a hospital in Fiji.

“When I looked at these different hospitals, I saw a communication gap between cleaning technicians and medical staff,” Baran recalls. “Everyone needs a clear understanding of the expectations and proper cleaning and disinfecting procedures—and supervisors need to communicate that in a way technicians can understand.”

next page of this article:
Training Needs of BSCs Entering EVS Cleaning


POSTED ON: 12/14/2026