Search Results
Displaying results 11 - 20 of 196
Scientific consensus shows climate change is already damaging human health and health care delivery and will have a greater impact in the future. Health care is at the front line of climate change, bearing the costs of increased diseases and more frequent extreme weather events.
Hospitals and health systems are addressing health threats posed by climate change and air pollution, in alignment with their missions to heal. Many are doing so by implementing business-smart initiatives that also protect their communities from climate change by:
Reducing the carbon footprint of hospital… Read More
Type: Basic page
Hospitals and other institutions through the United States are leveraging their food service operation to support environmental and human health.
By creating a sustainable food service vision statement and policy, hospitals move from isolated projects, sustained by the interest and involvement of a few staff, to a formal framework for understanding and making progress.
Conducting an inventory or assessment before setting the policy and plans is recommended as part of this process in order to include effective goals, benchmarks and tracking, and performance systems.
Adoption of a… Read More
Type: Basic page
Here you will find guidance, resources, tools, and ways to engage with your peers and other stakeholders across the value chain to support your food journey and help achieve your organization’s priorities and goals.
The way our food is produced, processed, transported, consumed, and disposed of has profound impacts on individual, community, and planetary health. Hospitals and health systems across the country are achieving their organizational priorities by focusing on food-related initiatives.
Make the case
Core values for a better food system
These values underpin the goals… Read More
Type: Basic page
Reducing water consumption is a great place for hospitals and health systems to start improving their environmental impact and sustainability practices. There are many reasons water is and should be an area of focus:
Hospitals use approximately 7% of all water use in commercial and institutional U.S. facilities, which is costly when the price of water has slowly been rising over the last decade.
By 2030, it’s estimated that global water supply will only be able to meet 60 percent of our population’s needs.
Though hospitals are often exempted from water conservation regulations in times… Read More
Type: Basic page
Practice Greenhealth’s 20 years of experience developing policy and programs for sustainable health care practices has guided our creation of tools and resources that empower hospitals to reduce both the costs and environmental impacts of caring for their community’s health needs.
Based on input from our members, we’ve made sure our resources capture the best practices and challenges at every stage of a program’s development and include practical guidance for:
Setting baselines
Identifying goals
Achieving stakeholder support
Implementing practice
Measuring and reporting results… Read More
Type: Basic page
Impact starts with our partners — organizations that see a world where health care has a broader aim of healthy people, living in equitable and resilient communities, on a sustainable planet — taking action and creating lasting change.
Why join Practice Greenhealth?
Sustainability is a vital component of any health care organization’s strategic direction. When tied to business and mission-driven goals, sustainable programs have benefits for the financial bottom line, patient satisfaction and well-being, employee engagement, and the communities you serve.
The Practice Greenhealth network… Read More
Type: Basic page
Hazardous waste
Hazardous waste is a small percentage of a hospital’s total generated waste, but it has a big impact on the waste management budget, costing on average more than 15 percent of total waste spending.
Hospitals need to have a clear understanding of how much hazardous waste they generate as different rules apply based on this total. It is also important to understand the federal and state laws that govern the definition and disposal of this costly waste stream.
The Practice Greenhealth waste tracker helps our members identify how much hazardous and universal waste they… Read More
Type: Basic page
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Clinical care is the single largest factor driving health care emissions, which means the health care sector will not be able to reduce emissions sufficiently without engaging health professionals in efforts to reduce the climate impact of clinical care.
Mass General Brigham (MGB) created four medical/clinical director of sustainability positions in recognition of the need for health professional leadership to advance climate-smart health care.
Through the leadership of the health professionals in these roles, MGB reduced its environmental impact and… Read More
Type: Basic page
Medical and clinical director of sustainability positions ensure alignment between sustainability and clinical care – helping organizations reduce waste and emissions, engage and educate the clinical workforce, build resilience, save money, and improve care.
A growing number of health professionals currently serve as medical or clinical director of sustainability, or an equivalent title, for their hospital or health system. Health professionals, sustainability leaders, and administrators are increasingly discovering the full value these positions can bring to their organizations.
“Our… Read More
Type: Basic page
Nonprofit hospitals are required to provide community benefit programs to maintain their tax-exempt status. Recent changes to community benefit regulations require hospitals to conduct community health needs assessments (CHNAs) every three years and to develop implementation strategies to address significant health needs in their communities.
To identify the community benefit lead at your facility, a good first step is to obtain your hospital’s CHNA, implementation strategy, or community benefit report. These are likely to be posted on the hospital’s website. Often a contact will be listed… Read More
Type: Basic page
Join Practice Greenhealth
Practice Greenhealth is the health care sector’s go-to source for information, tools, data, resources, and expert technical support on sustainability initiatives that help hospitals and health systems meet their health, financial, and community goals.