AHE Exchange Summit 2025 Brings EVS and Infection Prevention Experts Together in Columbus, Ohio

Exchange25: Association for the Health Care Environment in Columbus, Ohio

Rock D. Jensen

The Environmental Services Industry kicks off the largest health care conference of the year. It is the Association for Health Care Environment (AHE) Exchange Summit 2025. This year, the conference is being held in Columbus, Ohio, with an anticipated attendance of over 600 dedicated environmental services (EVS) professionals. The site location is the Greater Columbus Convention Center. The Summit takes place from June 8 to 11, 2025.

The AHE (a professional membership group of the American Hospital Association) Mission Statement is recognized and formulated “To advance members' ability to establish and maintain care environments that are free of environmental surface contamination and that support safety, service, and efficient and effective operations.” One of the AHE Strategic Imperatives is to develop resources that focus on their body of knowledge as their primary asset and make it available to every health care environmental services professional regardless of their place of practice.

With the AHE’s focus on education and training programs throughout the year, their annual Education & Solution Summit, officially known this year as Exchange Summit 2025, is geared towards growing professional networks, sharing information, creating connections, and learning more about the health care environmental services. Professionals can learn new and emerging strategies, find solutions to long-standing challenges, and become informed about best practices.

This year's conference features various sessions with a direct and correlated focus on Infection Prevention. Speakers include infection preventionists, industry-related experts from Clorox and Diversey, a principal microbiologist from Contec, DKMicrobios LLC, and health care executives and leaders responsible for infection prevention in their various health care facilities.

Of course, every session at the conference, in some way, drives the AHE mission and the infection prevention objectives of providing patients and staff with a safe, healthy environment in which to heal and work. There are 37 total learning sessions, and 46 speakers are involved in the Summit. Pre-Summit Certification and testing sessions are running June 6 through 8, and the General Summit conference kicks off on Monday, June 9, and runs through midday Wednesday, June 11, 2025.

Over 60 exhibitors are attending the Exchange 25 Solution Center, sharing numerous products and services that can help infection prevention and EVS organizations. These companies will be onsite to answer questions and offer

interactive demonstrations. Vendors’ offerings include cleaning and disinfection products, software solutions, UV technologies, robotics, textiles and linens, and much more.

One General Session being promoted on the schedule carries an IP perspective and is presented in a cross-collaboration panel format. It consists of Ruth Carrico, senior partner and consultant with Carrico & Ramirez, PLLC, who will provide IP insights. The panel consists of, in addition to Ruth, leaders in EVS, Supply Chain, and Facilities. They will share and discuss the value in collaborating across teams to effect successful infection prevention outcomes.

Other session topics include:

 “An Emerging Pathogen Update” led by Doe Kley, Infection Preventionist Fellow with the Clorox company.

 “Protecting with Purpose,” a session led by Doe Kley and other health care EVS leadership from around the country

 “Environmental Hygiene Validation: Are All Your Eggs in One Basket?” led by Vydia Nankoosingh, infection prevention senior clinical advisor for Diversey.

 “Disinfecting Sinks to Avoid a Pain in the Drain” led by Mark Wiencek, principal microbiologist for Contec, Inc.

 “DICE Infection Prevention” (Detect, Identify, Clean, Examine) using detection devices, led by David Koenig, PhD, chief technology officer for DKMicrobios, LLC.

 “Floorcare as your Litmus Test to a Safe and Hygienic Facility,” led by Kim Keenum, business development manager for Karcher North America

 “Partners in Prevention: Infection Prevention is Everybody’s Business,” led by Shannon Simmons, the program manager of ambulatory infection prevention and control for CHRISTUS Health. This is a General Session event.

Each year, EVS professionals attending the conference respond that networking is one of the key aspects they look forward to. Networking provides them a chance to communicate and bounce off thoughts and ideas they experience in their own hospitals and facilities. The networking consists of not only EVS peers, but IP professionals and experts who share common goals. The 2025 Summit will provide many opportunities for networking to occur. Multiple events are scheduled that will provide an emphasis on attendees joining together in an open forum.

From the AHE Chair, Marci Butts, MBA, BHA, and down through the Advisory Board and various committees, the AHE leadership is ultimately comprised of working EVS professionals in health care and hospital institutions. The leadership shares the same working concerns as most of their fellow AHE members regarding reducing microorganisms, managing staff, identifying materials that drive effectiveness and efficiency and managing productivity. The success of the AHE summit lies in its being driven by members and leaders who face the same daily challenges and struggles. It is this strong bond of common understanding that drives the success of the Summit. The integration with infection prevention at the conference and in real-life experiences with EVS leaders exemplifies the critical path and partnership required to achieve success in providing a safe and healing environment for those who frequent our hospitals and health care locations.