Sustainability metrics and awards

"This was UNMC-Nebraska Medicine's first time applying for the Practice Greenhealth Partner for Change Award. The data collection process required to answer the application questions was time- and energy-intensive, but it was absolutely worth the effort. The true value of the application process lies in uncovering what's already happening that we can be proud of, while also identifying the gaps. This enables us to strategically plan how to allocate resources, fill those gaps, and ultimately improve our performance, public health, and patient outcomes." 

- Jerrod Bley, Sustainability Manager

This year, we've focused our content changes for the Environmental Excellence Awards on user experience upgrades and increased transparency.

This year, we've reduced the number of questions on the application by 20% by looking for more efficient ways to ask questions, eliminating redundancies, and removing questions that the sector at large has moved beyond. To learn how this effort affected each page, please watch the "What's New in 2026" video above or review this resource.

Transparency of the autoscore

We've heard your requests for more transparency in how the applications are scored, and this year in response, we're making the autoscore (one of the four scoring frameworks) transparent. On the PDFs of the application, you can see how much each question is worth, and below are the rules we've applied to standardized scoring.

Autoscore:

• Actions that define the problem - 1 point
• Narratives, clarifications, or attachments that show proof - 1 point
• Data points - 2 points
• Questions related to having/setting goals - 2 points
• Infrastructure for action (staff, committees, policies, etc.) - 2 points
• Calculated $ savings - 3 points
• Deliverables (reports, charters, etc.) - 3 points
• Actions that reduce or communicate reduced environmental impact - 5 points
• Formal external commitments - 5 points
• Success stories - 5 points
• Advanced actions that demonstrate leadership - 10 points

System version of the Partner for Change application

The Partner for Change application is an excellent tool for facilities whose sustainability governance is located at the facility-level, but we have observed that it is not an effective tool for our partners whose sustainability governance lies at the system level. 

To better serve our system partners, we're pleased to launch a system version of the Partner for Change application this year, meant to be filled out with system-level data and successes. This year, the Partner for Change - System application is 99% identical to the Partner for Change - Facility applications, but we intend to iterate these applications over the coming years to be distinct offerings aimed at capturing progress at the different governance levels.

The Facility and System versions of the Partner for Change application are meant to work together. System applications should be submitted by system-level staff to yield system-level awards. For facilities that are part of a system, facility applications should be submitted by facility-level staff in collaboration with system-level sustainability staff to yield facility-level awards. With the introduction of the Partner for Change - System application, this year will be the last year we offer the System for Change award.

An adjustment to how we'll be awarding Top 25

This year, we will continue to award the Top 25 award to the highest-scoring, highest-performing facilities, meaning in order to be a contender, a facility should submit as many pages for scoring as they can. We will be using greenhouse gas emissions reductions as the way we measure high performance.

Last year, as a part of our realignment of the awards program around climate change, we announced that in 2026, the Top 25 awards would use GHG emissions reduction as the primary indicator of high-performing facilities. Alongside that announcement, we also shared that in order to be considered for Top 25, facilities need only submit the Climate page for scoring. In the feedback section of the 2025 application, we asked applicants what, in their view, was the number one indicator of leading-edge sustainability programs. The majority of you said that leading sustainability programs were defined by showing action in a wide variety of program areas. In response to this feedback, we are adjusting our plan for this year. Instead of only submitting the Climate page, it is in direct response to this feedback that we have altered the Top 25 requirements for this year.

We've worked hard this year to improve your experience with the Environmental Excellence Awards. In a time where sustainability work is being devalued, you can help us show the importance of this work by sharing your data and your successes with Practice Greenhealth. By anonymizing and aggregating all applicants' data, we can show just how impactful and beneficial sustainability work in the health care sector is.