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The Coolfood Pledge is a new platform to help hospitals offer diners more of what they want while slashing food-related greenhouse gas emissions, saving costs, and improving health. The pledge is a cross-sector initiative championed by the World Resources Institute with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from food purchasing by 25% by 2030. Practice Greenhealth supports the health care sector in meeting the goal. Health care is showing leadership with over 200 hospitals pledging, representing over 140 million (combined) meals annually. The Coolfood Pledge is a… Read More
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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 applicationsThe 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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Single-use medical devices make up a significant amount of the operating room supply budget and costly regulated medical waste generated by operating rooms every day. Working with a third-party reprocessor to safely collect and purchase these reprocessed devices is one of the biggest opportunities for cost savings and waste reduction in the operating room.All reprocessing must be done by an FDA-approved vendor according to strict guidelines, including a requirement that every reprocessed device is function tested to guarantee safety and reliability.Hospitals in the Practice Greenhealth… Read More
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The Climate Excellence Standard (CES) for Health Sector Suppliers was launched in 2023 to define superior performance in decarbonization among individual suppliers, manufacturers, and distributors, ensuring the health care supply chain is aligned with achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, while improving resilience. Urgent action across the supply chain is required to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels to cut death and diseases associated with greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and reduce healthcare costs for patients and providers. Purpose and use:Use of the standard will include… Read More
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“This initiative resulted in not only decreased use of disposables, but other results as well. It was the first pilot with the inpatient nursing team led by the sustainability department, and as such provided opportunities to increase engagement with a large group of employees and leaders.”– Diane Imrie, system director of sustainability. KEY TAKEAWAYS In 2024, University of Vermont Medical Center purchased more than 35,000 disposable blood pressure cuffs, costing over $100,000, and directly generating about 4,000 pounds of plastic waste.The cardiovascular unit, the largest consumer… Read More
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"Being able to include all of our stakeholders; starting a team [with] multiple viewpoints and creating trust was the most successful part of our pilot." – Dr. Ami Shah, pediatric surgeon, director, office of clinician experienceKEY TAKEAWAYS High-volume disposable patient positioning devices and other operating room plastics generate unnecessary waste, cost, and a negative environmental impact, while entrenched workflows, departmental siloes, and safety concerns slow adoption of alternatives.With Practice Greenhealth’s technical assistance, Rush built a cross-departmental… Read More
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For more than 20 years, the Environmental Excellence Awards have helped health care sustainability programs in the United States and Canada grow and demonstrate their worth. This program enables Practice Greenhealth to gather sustainability data, identify leaders, and show just how impactful sustainability work in the health care sector is. Participating facilities use the application process as a source of new ideas to grow their programs and receive personalized reports that compare their facility's sustainability data to their peers'.
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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. … 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 revenueAre responsible for 40 to 60% of the organization’s total supply costsProduce more than 30% of a facility’s waste… Read More
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“Medical device reprocessing occasionally receives a negative perception due to collection logistics and contracting complexities. In reality, it can generate significant cost savings. With consistent, recurring education and thoughtful collection strategies, organizations can realize savings with relative ease.” – Janell Adams, materials value chain directorKEY TAKEAWAYS OSF HealthCare's strong reprocessing program encountered problems when they changed vendors. This shift disrupted device collections, reduced staff engagement, and complicated the health system’s… 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 1,500 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.