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By Beth Eckl, Practice Greenhealth Environmental Purchasing program director
You’ve secured leadership support, built a team of colleagues who were successful in getting an environmental purchasing policy adopted, and now it’s time to select environmentally preferable products and services. So which contracts should you begin with? And how do you prioritize among hundreds of purchasing opportunities?
Setting priorities enables organizations to focus on the highest value opportunities to drive sustainable development.
Some choose to begin with a strong business case for targeting products… Read More
Type: Press
As your stretcher is wheeled into a hospital operating room (OR) and you stare up at the bright surgical lights, you are likely thinking about your impending surgery, not if those lights have LED bulbs or if the anesthetic gas you are about to breathe contributes to climate change. But maybe you should be. Hospitals consume over 10% of the nation's energy and generate more than 5.9 million tons of waste a year, and the health care sector is responsible for 8% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. The OR consumes more than its fair share of resources, eating up, on average, one third of a hospital… 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 problem
It is estimated that over 30 million people in the United States, or roughly 10% of Americans, have diabetes. About 30% of people who have been diagnosed with diabetes are managed with some form of insulin. Additionally, many critically ill hospitalized patients who have not been diagnosed with diabetes will require insulin while in the hospital. It is therefore no surprise that insulin is one of the most frequently prescribed drugs in the hospital setting. At Stony Brook University Hospital, insulin is in the top 20 drugs by spend.
Type: Resources
(Anesthetic gas toolkit) This presentation provides an overview of the mechanics of anesthetic gas systems, their environmental impact, and opportunities to reduce energy consumption and mitigate impact.
*Note: At the time of this presentation, different GWP were used for anesthetic gases than what we now use to calculate emissions.
Type: Resources
“Not only does this project impact greenhouse gasses from keeping food waste out of the landfill, it is also about dollars saved, which is important to hospital administrators, and then there is the food rescue piece which is what is really important to our community.”
– Jack Breezee, Sutter Health regional director of food and nutrition services
Sutter Health knew they were wasting food but didn’t know how much. They wanted to find a way to reduce food waste – and knew they could help their community at the same time.
Sutter Health partnered with our sustainability experts to… Read More
Type: Resources
This life cycle assessment study conducted for Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. compared the overall environmental impact of disposable polypropylene blue sterilization wraps with that of reusable aluminum hard sterilization cases. The study found that the reusable hard cases have roughly half the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions impact than the disposable polypropylene blue wraps annually.
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
Clinical care is a driving factor of health care emissions and pollution. As the largest percentage of a hospital's workforce, it is critical to engage, educate, and empower clinicians to lead change. Health care organizations gain many benefits from positioning a health professional in a leadership role within their sustainability governance structure.
In this session, hear about Ascension’s Clinical Work Group within their Environmental Impact and Sustainability program, which harnesses organizational decision-making pathways toward decreasing the environmental impact of clinical care.… Read More
Type: Event
The most prestigious honor for those committed to health care sustainability, Practice Greenhealth's Environmental Excellence Awards recognize health care facilities, health sector suppliers, and member organizations for making a commitment to and progressing toward environmental stewardship and sustainability.
Each year, Practice Greenhealth honors health care facilities through the following awards:
Top 25 Environmental Excellence Award
The Top 25 Environmental Excellence Award is Practice Greenhealth’s highest honor for hospitals. These hospitals are leading the industry with innovation… 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.