Healthier Hospitals Initiative
The Healthier Hospitals Initiative (HHI), a coalition of major health systems and organizations committed to improving sustainability and safety across the healthcare sector, has created the Healthier Hospitals Agenda to chart a path to a healthier, more sustainable and more cost effective healthcare system. Leading hospital systems, partnering with Practice Greenhealth, Health Care Without Harm, and the Center for Health Design are providing expertise and technical assistance to develop and implement training and other programs to help hospitals carry out the HHI agenda recommendations.
The Healthier Hospitals Agenda is based on the premise that a coordinated sector-wide approach to how we design, build and operate hospitals can improve patient outcomes and workplace safety, prevent illnesses, create extraordinary environmental benefits, and save billions of dollars. The Agenda utilizes evidence-based design and research data on environmental sustainability and community health to delineate a prioritized roadmap; it is a method for moving from good ideas implemented by individual facilities to a comprehensive system and sector-wide adoption of sustainable practices and cost reduction.
In the last several years, studies have provided evidence of a strong linkage between the environment and health. Environmental hazards, pollution and emissions may be partially responsible for the nation's epidemic of chronic diseases that require lifetime treatments and consumes approximately 75 percent of all health care expenditures. Engaging in sustainable health care is a responsible and effective way to protect the health of patients, staff and the community.
