Getting started: Awards essentials
Whether your facility is applying for the first time or has been for years, you will find the details on how to access the awards platform, critical awards cycle timelines, descriptions of the different applications, and how they are scored.
Where to find the applications
The Environmental Excellence Awards are hosted on a separate website that requires a unique username and password. You can access the awards platform at platform.practicegreenhealth.org. If you need help setting up an account, contact us at awards@practicegreenhealth.org.
For your data's security, we use a two-factor authentication system on our platform. If you are not receiving the email with your authorization code, please check your spam folder first.
When the awards cycle occurs
The Partner for Change Application captures data on sustainability performance for the calendar year. It opens in November and is due the following April.
For the 2026 awards cycle, applications will open on Monday, Nov. 3, 2025, and will be due on Wednesday, April 15, 2026. We aim to notify winners on Wednesday, May 27, 2025.
Please note that similarly to last year, because CleanMed 2026 will be held earlier than in previous years (May 12-14, 2026), we will not be able to notify winners before CleanMed.
Introduction to the 2026 Environmental Excellence Awards
About the Partner for Change - Facility application
Updates to the 2026 Partner for Change application have all been made with a focus on improving the user experience. Please see the 2026 program changes for more details.
What types of facilities can apply?
Practice Greenhealth offers applications for three categories of facilities based on whether they have overnight (staffed) beds or operating rooms.
- Facility type 1: Facilities with overnight beds and operating rooms. Most Practice Greenhealth applicants fall into this category.
- Facility type 2: Facilities without operating rooms. This category includes long-term care facilities, psychiatric facilities, rehabilitation facilities, and skilled nursing facilities.
- Facility type 3: Facilities without overnight beds. These outpatient facilities may or may not have operating rooms.
When we set up your account on the awards website, we will note your facility type so that when you start a Partner for Change application, you will be in the correct application. No action is needed on your part.
How does scoring work?
Because there is no “right way” to do sustainability in health care, Practice Greenhealth’s scoring methodology for the Partner for Change Application accounts for the many different paths that sustainability programs can take toward mature and impactful programs.
Each page (Climate, Leadership, Sustainable procurement, etc.) on the application is scored using four frameworks:
- Auto score: The auto score rewards action in that favorable answers to questions earn points depending on the type of question. New this year, you can see exactly how many points an answer is worth on the PDFs of the application. We determine how much a question is worth by applying these rules:
- 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
- Metric score: Points are assigned based on key metrics using a sliding scale. For example, Energy Use Intensity (EUI) is calculated by dividing total energy use by total square footage. A lower EUI earns more points. If the maximum score for a facility’s EUI is 175 points, an EUI of 130 kBtus/sf would score more than an EUI of 300 kBtus/sf.
- Quality score: Reviewers assign a score of zero to three for subjective questions (essays, attachments, etc.), with zero for unrelated answers and three for complete, concise answers that include processes and outcomes. The quality score is calculated by dividing the points earned by the total possible points on the page.
- Innovation points: Reviewers can assign innovation points, or bonus points, for truly forward-thinking or extraordinary actions or outcomes.
These four scores are weighted and combined to generate a total page score, which determines Circles of Excellence winners and contributes to the overall application score.
About the Partner for Change - System application
For the 2026 awards cycle, Practice Greenhealth is introducing a System version of the Partner for Change application in response to your feedback and thanks to the engagement we saw in last year's trial Health System Climate application.
This year, this application is 99% identical to the Partner for Change - Facility application, but over the next few years, we intend to iterate this application into a distinct offering for systems and their style of governance.
The system and facility versions of this application are complementary. A facility in a system can submit their own application even if their data is represented in a system application.
The Partner for Change - System application is a tool for system-level sustainability staff to share their system-level successes. Numerical data collected in the application should all be system-level data, but systems are offered the option to break down that data to the facility level, if possible.
Systems that do break down numerical data points to the facility level will receive facility-specific personalized reports.
Systems that are unable to break down any of their numerical data points to the facility level will only receive system-level personalized reports where their data is compared only to other systems.
Choosing the way you participate in the Partner for Change application depends on where your governance lies and what types of stories you have to tell. In the facility application, we are looking for facility-level successes. Sub-system groupings of facilities can use the System application depending on the size and complexity of your system.
About the System for Change application
With the introduction of the Partner for Change - System application, this is the last year Practice Greenhealth will be offering the System for Change Award. We have adapted the requirements for this award to account for the Partner for Change - System application, and will use the new application in future years to capture the outstanding sustainability governance work that has historically been captured through the System for Change application.
All hospitals within the health system must be current Practice Greenhealth members in good standing, with a minimum of four facilities.
A minimum percentage of the health system’s facilities must have their data represented in a Partner for Change application (either facility or system) and those applications must achieve recognition in the same award cycle for the health system to qualify for this award. The percentage varies by health system size, as shown below.
| Number of hospitals in the health system | Percent of facilities that achieve recognition through the Partner for Change application |
|---|---|
| 4-6 facilities | 100% |
| 6-10 facilities | 90% |
| 11-25 facilities | 70% |
| 26-50 facilities | 50% |
| 51-70 facilities | 40% |
| More than 70 facilities | 30% |
Hospitals within the system that do not submit an award application will still count toward the total facility count.
Health systems that complete and submit the System for Change application are eligible to win the System for Change Award.
About the Making Medicine Mercury-Free application
The Making Medicine Mercury-Free application evaluates whether a facility has virtually eliminated mercury and committed to remaining “mercury-free.” To receive the award, the facility must attach all requested policies and provide documentation.
- A facility cannot receive the mercury award if it crushes fluorescent lamps onsite. Practice Greenhealth recognizes that some mercury may still be present in facilities, such as in fluorescent lamps or in capital equipment like boiler switches and relays.
- While these sources do not disqualify an applicant, the facility must demonstrate that these sources are labeled or handled appropriately upon disposal.
- Similarly, minor sources of mercury in the pharmacy or lab must be identified and managed appropriately until they can be replaced.
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Who We Are
Practice Greenhealth is the leading sustainable health care organization, delivering environmental solutions to more than 1,500 hospitals and health systems in the United States and Canada. Partnership opportunities include hospitals, health systems, community health organizations, NGOs, nonprofits, government, academic institutions, and the health care value chain.