CleanMed 2024: Lessons from federal health system sustainability successes

Federal health systems are diverse in terms of both the patients they serve and the agencies that govern their operations, but they are all required to meet the same waste reduction, energy efficiency, and green procurement benchmarks. Federal health systems are often leaders on sustainability within the health care space, but how they achieve those benchmarks has historically varied, without much exchange between organizations. In June 2022, the Federal Health Systems Learning Network was established to provide a sharing and learning platform between the Veterans Health Administration, Defense Health Agency, Indian Health Service, and Bureau of Prisons to meet the requirements set forth in Executive Order 14057. Facilitated by the HHS Office of Climate Change and Health Equity, the network has developed a growing community of practice, focused broadly on decarbonization and sustainability across many disciplines within the federal health care space. During this session, federal health system experts will share lessons from their operations to assist private sector health care organizations and lay out a road map for future collaboration between the federal and private sectors.