Tools and resources

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania contract for integrated pest management services

• Chemicals
• Exemplary Document
• Integrated pest management

This is a sample integrated pest management contract for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 

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Clinician Engagement & Education: Virginia Mason Device Reprocessing

• Exemplary Document
• Virginia Mason

Single-use medical devices are expensive resources that end up in the landfill after use. By using reprocessed medical devices, Virginia Mason has provided the highest quality of care, while reducing waste to the landfill and reducing supply costs by over $3M in three years. In 2014, Virginia Mason reprocessed or recycled over 18,850 pounds of devices, which may have otherwise have been discarded…

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Clinician Engagement & Education: NorthShore HealthSystem 2016

• Waste
• Medical Waste
• Recycling
• Exemplary Document
• NorthShore University Health System
• Presentation
• Greening the Operating Room

Northshore University Health System has implemented waste management and recycling programs in the operating room. Employee education, staff engagement, and other initiatives have resulted in an increase in recycling rates and reductions in medical and solid waste. Open the presentation to see how Northshore was able to make sustainability improvements.

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Clinician Engagement & Education: Mayo Rochestor 2016

• Greening the Operating Room
• Exemplary Document
• Mayo Clinic
• White Paper

Hospital sustainability programs reduce costs and enhance the quality of patient care. However, given the long list of priorities that hospitals must tackle, sustainability too often falls by the wayside. Today, the benefits of sustainability are too important to ignore. The operating room is often the largest generator of revenue, as well as the largest consumer of supply costs and the biggest…

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Cleveland Clinic: Individual behaviors help reduce energy

• Engaged Leadership
• Employees
• Employees Case Study
• Case Study
• Cleveland Clinic
• Employee engagement
• Toolkit

(Employee engagement toolkit) The rate at which Cleveland Clinic uses energy has financial costs, as well as human and environmental health impacts. Reducing the rate of energy used creates a cleaner environment, improves health, and delivers substantial cost savings over the short and long term. In pursuit of care affordability, over $12M of energy waste was identified across the health system.…

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Advocate Health Care design standard bulletin: Healthy interiors

• Chemicals
• Exemplary Document
• Advocate Health Care
• Healthy interiors

This exemplary document from Advocate Health Care demonstrates how this system achieved the Healthy Interiors goal:  “Effective immediately, purchases of freestanding furniture and medical furnishings for any Advocate capital or renovation project are to be specified without the intentional use of the following chemicals: halogenated fire retardants formaldehyde, perfluorinated compounds, and…

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Applicable contracts for LEED certification in health care

• Green Building
• Buildings
• Guide

This is a list of contract categories in the health care supply chain that may be relevant to facilities pursuing LEED for Healthcare certification.

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Suggested Supplier Disclosures for Windows and Doors

• Guide
• EPP
• Purchasing
• EPP Resource
• Green Building

This guide provides some environmental attributes to consider in evaluating environmentally preferable windows and doors and contains definitions for the green attributes.  

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University of Maryland Medical Center: Reusable textiles in the OR

• Greening the Operating Room Case Study
• Waste
• Case Study

University of Maryland Medical Center has been using reusable gowns and basins in their operating rooms for 15 years. In 2007, UMMC staff started a green team to decrease the facility's negative impact on the environment. A review of the hospital's waste disposal system led administrators to reduce the amount of waste the facility generates.

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UCSF Medical Center: Efficient use of fresh gas flow for inhaled anesthetics

• Greening the Operating Room
• Exemplary Document
• UCSF
• Report
• Anesthetic Gas

(Anesthetic gas toolkit) Inhaled anesthetics containing environmentally deleterious greenhouse gases are used daily in the practice of anesthesia. The hypothesis is that a reduction in fresh gas flows would significantly decrease volatile agent consumption and resultant purchasing costs at UCSF. Total fresh gas flows utilized by anesthesia providers were analyzed and the data subsequently used to…

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