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Health care institutions throughout the country recognize the urgent need to reduce rates of obesity and chronic illness as well as their associated health care costs.
Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) contribute to the increased prevalence of obesity and associated chronic diseases that go along with weight gain. The production, consumption, and waste associated with sugar-sweetened and bottled beverages have numerous negative environmental consequences.
A better option for hydration and quenching thirst is water and in the United States, tap water has been proven to be just as safe, or… Read More
Type: Basic page
Rethinking Environmentally Preferred Purchasing: A Case Study in Implementation at Kaiser Permanente
By Vanessa Lochner, Kaiser Permanente's director for the Environmentally Preferred Purchasing program
Achieving an environmentally preferable purchasing program is simpler than many people realize. From the start, it’s important to determine the desired results.
At Kaiser Permanente, our decision to pursue a more rigorous EPP program was motivated by five environmental priorities: cleaner energy, safer chemicals, less waste, healthier and more sustainable food and water conservation. We’ve achieved multiple successes over the past several years. The EPP program delivers over $63 million… Read More
Type: Press
A typical OR can make up half of a hospital’s aggregate costs, produce 33% of a facility’s waste, consume more energy per square foot than any other area of the hospital. Our Greening the OR experts host sessions to uncover new or best practice strategies in cost savings and efficiency improvement practices. Solutions discussed focus on not only maintaining quality patient care but also supporting staff and environmental health.
Target audience: sustainability leads, ambulatory services, operating room, physicians, and other personnel working on initiatives to make the operating room more… Read More
Type: Basic page
The current sustainability program at Legacy Health is built around the Healthier Hospitals Initiative (HHI) model which includes six areas of focus: engaged leadership, healthier food, leaner energy, less waste, safer chemicals and smarter purchasing. In addition, Legacy has added commute trip reduction as a discrete category to the program. Even though significant progress is being made in each area, Legacy has not implemented a system-wide robust, reliable and consistent method to gather data related to all this work within the context of environmental sustainability. A more developed… Read More
Type: Resources
Following the successful launch of our Health Care Emissions Impact Calculator, Practice Greenhealth hosted monthly workshops to walk partners through how to perform a complete greenhouse gas inventory.
Hundreds of partners attended this real-time solutions forum, where many tips and tricks were shared.
View the on-demand recordings of the following workshops:
Nov. 16 - Scope 1 (stationary combustion, mobile fleet combustion, and fugitive emissions)
Dec. 14 - Scope 2 (purchased electricity, steam, heat, or cooling)
Jan. 18 - Scope 3 categories 1 (purchased goods and services), 2 (… Read More
Type: Press
There is increased concern over pharmaceuticals in waterways. There are “no drugs down the drain” rules in certain states. And harm can come from unauthorized access to controlled substances and the resulting wastage. Health care facilities must address these issues and ensure alignment with DEA and EPA regulations as well as local rules. So Practice Greenhealth and a team of stakeholders developed a guidance document to support hospitals and clinicians in managing controlled substances and the resulting wastage.
The Practice Greenhealth document, Best practices for disposal of controlled… Read More
Type: Press
It is the policy of NorthShore University Health System to prohibit all unnecessary acquisition of mercury-added products in its facilities and to ensure that all mercury containing equipment and waste is managed and disposed in a manner that is safe, protective of the environment, and compliant with all applicable regulations. The policy establishes guidelines for the procurement, use, and disposal of items and materials containing elemental mercury and mercury compounds. This policy restricts the procurement of mercury-added products, prohibits the use of mercury and its compounds at all… Read More
Type: Resources
Healthier Hospitals (HH) was a great success due to the thousands of hospitals and health systems that committed to the six challenges to improve sustainability performance. It represented a shared leadership around healthier communities and provided hospitals of all sizes with free tools and resources that help focus sustainability efforts on the health care sector's biggest areas of opportunity and risk. Our success is due in large part to the strong partnerships we've formed with health care organizations and other nonprofit organizations.
In many cases, these challenges helped get… Read More
Type: Basic page
Practice Greenhealth announced the 2020 recipients of the Top 25 Environmental Excellence Awards, the most prestigious environmental achievement for health care.
Including the Top 25, Practice Greenhealth recognized 421 health care organizations across 10 areas of sustainability through its annual Environmental Excellence Awards. This includes the Circles of Excellence honors to the top 10 hospitals nationwide in each sustainability impact area, Greening the OR Leadership and Recognition Awards, Greenhealth Emerald Awards, Partner for Change and Partner Recognition Awards, Making… Read More
Type: Press
Medical devices and equipment cost more than their initial purchase price. Maintenance, energy demands, disposal costs, and other long-term costs of ownership can drastically change the lifetime price tag of products and equipment.
The tool provides a framework to assess the financial costs and bring hidden costs to the surface, including:
Maintenance
Use
Disposal
Looking at the maintenance, use, and disposal costs to an organization means looking at costs, such as:
Energy use, water consumption, fuel, and waste disposal
Cleaning
Consumables
Taking all of these factors into account… 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.
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.