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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… Read More
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Health care facilities offer healthier menus by working with farmers to purchase locally and sustainably grown products, reducing the amount of meat they purchase and serve, and going beyond their walls to help meet the food needs of their community. This cohort will provide partners a space to learn about new trends and technologies and collaborate with their peers on implementation strategies. Sessions will cover ways to improve the sustainability of food service operations and support healthy food access, local food economies, and resilient food systems.
Target audience: Sustainability… Read More
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Practice Greenhealth provides a range of tools and resources to support the awards application process. The following resources are available to Practice Greenhealth members.
Awards levels
In 2021, Practice Greenhealth is suspending the tiered awards structure, including Top 25 and Circles of Excellence, in favor of a single, broad recognition category for environmental achievement in health care facilities. We will also be recognizing Making Medicine Mercury-Free for individual facilities and System for Change recognition for health systems.
Awards scoring resource
This resource offers… Read More
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Health care is joining organizations across the country in the goal to reduce food waste by 50% by 2030.
Food can be wasted but is never “waste.” As a valuable resource, it does not belong in a landfill. Landfilling food contributes to climate change and is a missed opportunity for addressing food insecurity. Our guidance, which aligns with the EPA food recovery hierarchy and evolving state and federal regulations, leads you through each strategy from source reduction to food donation to recycling and will help you make a plan for achieving your waste reduction goals.
Assemble the… Read More
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Practice Greenhealth has been collecting sustainability performance data from hospitals and health systems for over 20 years. As sustainability expectations have evolved, Practice Greenhealth has continued to refine the data and metrics we utilize to measure progress and benchmark performance. Below are some helpful tips to help ensure you are collecting and providing data in the correct format – which supports your scores on the application and better trend analysis for the sector.
Before starting your application, be sure to review our advice and five tips for success below.
1. Order of… Read More
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Traditional methods of removing fluid medical waste from the operating room are being replaced in many places by fluid management systems that collect and discharge contents directly into the sanitary sewer.
Fluid management systems can replace single-use disposable plastic suction canisters, chemical solidifiers (itself an exposure risk), and significantly reduce waste disposal costs. Additional available safety features include smoke evacuation, precise vacuum control, fluid measurement, air filtration, and enclosed processing which further reduces occupational exposure risk.
Fluid… Read More
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Operating rooms can drive big facilities’ cost savings and efficiency improvements through smart, incremental, sustainable practices. Even more important, it’s possible to make these changes while not only maintaining quality patient care but also supporting staff and environmental health.
Though a tiny percentage of a hospital’s total physical footprint, operating rooms have a huge impact on hospital budgets. Operating rooms, on average:
Drive up to 60% of a hospital’s revenue
Are responsible for 40 to 60% of the organization’s total supply costs
Produce more than 30% of a facility’s… Read More
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Introduction
Increasing seafood purchases, is a solid strategy for reducing meat while promoting human and environmental health. However, the lack of transparency – along with seafood’s numerous health, environmental, and social justice concerns – make it a particularly difficult food group to navigate. This guide offers seafood procurement recommendations based on sustainability, nutrition, social, and animal welfare concerns.
This guide’s recommendations complement existing third-party certifications and inform day-to-day purchasing when sustainability labeling and information is… Read More
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Concerns over infection prevention, continued increase in the use of single-use, disposable plastics, and changes in international recycling markets and a lack of U.S.-based material recovery facilities have left operating rooms awash in single-use medical plastics. Additionally, a 0.5 percent contamination rate requirement on marketable medical plastics has challenged the compliance of many hospital recycling programs.
One ubiquitous medical plastic, ”blue wrap,” is estimated to make up almost 20 percent of all operating room waste. While these plastics do an excellent job of keeping… Read More
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Some traditional cleaning products contain ingredients that have been linked to occupational asthma. It is possible for hospitals to maintain optimal infection prevention and control while also reducing staff, patient, and visitor exposure to harmful chemicals present in many traditional hospital cleaners.
Green cleaning goal
Inventory cleaning products and purchase 90% Green Seal or UL ECOLOGO certified cleaning products in the following categories: carpet, window, all purpose, bathroom, and general floor care
For the most commonly used cleaning products, “greener” cleaners can be… Read More
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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.
Who We Are
Practice Greenhealth is the leading sustainable health care organization, delivering environmental solutions to more than 1,700 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.