RadCare Services opens North Carolina hub for hospital lead-garment care

RadCare Services is expanding into North Carolina with a Charlotte-area facility aimed at speeding lead-garment cleaning, inspection and compliance work for hospitals across the Carolinas and the Southeast. The move comes as hospitals face renewed focus on infection prevention and the risks tied to contaminated protective equipment.

Why it matters: - Hospitals are under renewed pressure to reduce healthcare-associated infections and improve infection control. - Lead aprons and other lead garments are a persistent contamination risk in cath labs, operating rooms and imaging suites. - A regional facility in Charlotte gives hospitals in the Carolinas faster access to cleaning, inspection and compliance services.

What happened: - RadCare Services announced it is establishing a regional presence in North Carolina. - The new footprint adds dedicated capacity for surgical sites and healthcare facilities across North Carolina, South Carolina and the Southeast. - The company said the Charlotte-area facility is part of its national growth plan.

The details: - RadCare Services provides hospital lead-garment cleaning, inspection and compliance services. - The company’s service line includes cleaning, disinfection, X-ray inspection, repair and inventory tracking. - RadCare Services also uses its RadComply® compliance platform. - The company said its services are used by hospital systems around the U.S. - RadCare Services said it has serviced more than 1 million lead garments. - The company was founded in 2012. - RadCare Services said it now operates from two service centers: its 30,000-square-foot Indianapolis headquarters and its Charlotte-area facility. - The company said its North Carolina presence will process, inspect and track lead garments for hospital and surgical clients throughout the region. - RadCare Services said the new site will reduce turnaround time for facilities that rely on lead aprons in cath labs, operating rooms and imaging suites. - The company said it has grown at an average of 40% a year for the past four years. - RadCare Services said it has been named to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies for three consecutive years. - More information is available on the company’s website.

Between the lines: - The expansion follows fresh attention on infection prevention after the CDC estimated 518,000 healthcare-associated infections occurred in U.S. hospitals in 2023. - Surgical site infections remain among the categories that have shown the least improvement over the past decade, according to the CDC. - The CDC also said this summer’s Cyclospora outbreak was the largest on record in the U.S., adding to public and provider scrutiny of infection control. - RadCare Services is positioning lead-garment sanitation as a broader patient-safety issue rather than a niche equipment service. - The company’s pitch centers on the gap between routine wipe-downs and deep-disinfection processes for contaminated lead aprons. - Independent research cited by RadCare Services found 84% of lead aprons worn by interventional radiologists tested positive for Staphylococcus aureus, and 12% carried MRSA. - Similar findings have been documented in operating rooms, where bacteria can recolonize aprons within hours after a routine wipe-down.

What’s next: - RadCare Services expects the Charlotte facility to support further expansion as more hospitals seek garments that are disinfected, inspected and audit-ready. - The company said the regional hub should help it serve more hospital networks across the Southeast. - RadCare Services’ leadership is betting that hospitals will increasingly treat lead-garment compliance as part of infection-control workflows.

The bottom line: - RadCare Services is turning a long-overlooked infection-control problem into a growth market, with Charlotte now serving as its Southeast base.