Compiled by James P. Malley, Jr., Ph.D., University of New Hampshire
Owners and operators of UV technology are an important stakeholder group; these professionals have limited time and often prefer to remain anonymous when providing feedback. As a result, UV Solutions builds this column from responses to a Qualtrics survey sent out each quarter with the help of UNH graduate students.
This quarter, in keeping with the issue theme of healthcare disinfection/pharmaceutical applications, the Qualtrics survey was sent to long-term care facility (aka: skilled nursing facilities [SNFs], nursing homes or eldercare facilities) operators who have not been covered before and makers of pharmaceuticals (aka: pharma). The authors thank the IUVA Buyers Guide participants, American Health Care Association (AHCA)/National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL) staff and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) staff. This extremely broad email solicitation yielded a 10% response rate, leading to 33 responses.
Are UV technologies used in the day-to-day operations at your facilities?
Pharmaceutical Makers
Three of the responses from pharma pointed to a recent online summary in Biophorum (https://www.biophorum.com/workstream/establishing-the-efficacy-of-uv-as-a-disinfection-technology/), which summarized the current state of the art as follows: “UV technology for disinfection in the pharmaceutical industry is currently under exploration by many companies, in a range of different applications, as the benefits of its use are clear. However, a lack of data on its efficacy has prevented it from becoming a validated technology, and, as such, it currently has no clear regulatory acceptance or available guidance. Without a recognized framework, companies face uncertainty in deploying UV solutions, slowing progress toward autonomous operations, and keeping facilities reliant on manual, chemical-based cleaning processes. This gap increases operational complexity, cost and environmental impact, while limiting innovation in contamination control.”
Five responses from pharma indicated that UV disinfection technology is used in their current ultrapure water (UPW) loops. Each mentioned that UV technology is applied to reduce “already low” total organic carbon (TOC) levels in the UPW and that UV disinfection of the UPW is relied upon to control Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Four facilities indicated UV equipment is used in their curing operations to ensure that coating, adhesive and ink all meet their rigid specifications. Note that comments related to these UV curing systems are not included in the scope of this Operator’s Corner column.
Long-Term Care Facilities (LTCF)
Four responses indicated that the facilities’ HVAC contractors do supply and maintain UV technologies for proper operations of their HVAC systems, but “they do not know much about them.”
Twenty responses from LTCFs indicated that they rely on well-stocked stations that provide personal protective equipment (PPE) and hand sanitizer stations in each resident’s room and have not included any UV technologies. These responses stated that they follow all CDC guidelines and recommend all residents receive vaccinations, and that sick residents are carefully cared for with isolation and increased staff precautions to eliminate disease transmissions.
Four responses indicated that their facility uses Ecolab StealthTM models in their kitchens and dining rooms. Note that these systems typically use non-germicidal lights to attract and capture flies, so they are not included in the scope of this Operator’s Corner column. One respondent indicated that the respondent is the largest provider of LTCF in the US, and it is “monitoring the literature but do not find it to be a compelling use of resources to implement it at the present time if there is only a 12% benefit.” That response cited the following two papers: “Germicidal UV Light and Incidence of Acute Respiratory Infection in Long-Term Care for Older Adults: A Randomized Clinical Trial,” JAMA Intern Med, Published Online: July 28, 2025, 2025;185;(9):1128-1135. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2025.3388; and “Effects of Germicidal UV Air Disinfection Devices on Indoor Air Quality in an Unoccupied Aged Care Facility” ACS EST Air 2025, 2, 6, 1042–1054, Published April 28, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestair.4c00322.
Share any operational experience with the UV technology used in your facilities.
Pharmaceutical Makers
Three responses indicated that their UV use basically is “out of sight and out of mind,” except for the annual replacement of lamps and sleeves. Two facilities indicated that their UV systems effectively reduce TOC but do have significant annual power and maintenance requirements and costs.
Long-Term Care Facilities (LTCF)
Two respondents indicated that their bills for UV maintenance from their HVAC contractors were far less than the monthly bills for filter replacements and seemed to mostly involve lamp replacements. Responses for Ecolab StealthTM models were not included in this summary.
Are there other comments to share with UV Solutions readers or the IUVA?
Pharmaceutical Makers
Two respondents indicated that their UPW systems are being studied for the removal of PFAS and microplastics and wondered if UV technology can remove those pollutants. Another respondent asked if there are emerging UV technologies that are powerful enough and cost-effective enough to reduce TOC using light-emitting diodes.
Long-Term Care Facilities (LTCF)
One respondent inquired if there are any plans in the US to perform research testing in “our facilities, going further than the limited Australia studies, to determine if it would be a sustainable, triple bottom line, best practice to deploy UV disinfection technologies throughout the rooms of their LTCFs.”