Sustainability program fundamentals

Practice Greenhealth is here to guide your health care organization to integrate sustainability as a strategic priority and become a change agent for creating healthier, sustainable, and more resilient communities.

Health care organizations and companies of all sizes are realizing the many benefits that come from embedding sustainability into their operations including efficiency improvements, cost savings, reduced regulatory risk, enhanced employee engagement and retention, greater stakeholder satisfaction, improved public health, and public relations gains.

Following key elements of a well-established sustainability process, hospitals, health systems, and health care facilities can achieve measurable results. Some organizations begin at the top by explicitly including sustainability objectives in their overall strategic plan. Others start with an individual project that captures the imagination, energy, and commitment of the organization. 

Every partner starts with a baseline evaluation 

Following the completion of the Program Fundamentals Assessment – Practice Greenhealth’s baseline evaluation – a sustainability strategy manager assesses your organization’s stage of sustainability across 10 elements of effective governance:

• Executive leadership
• Governance structures
• Stakeholder engagement
• Organizational commitment
• Goal setting and strategy
• Data governance
• Board involvement
• Employee engagement
• Human resources support
• Communication

To learn more, view a PDF of the assessment and our frequently asked questions. New partners and other stakeholders assisting in the completion of the baseline evaluation can access the assessment below.

Access the assessment

Stages of sustainability for health care

Nearly all organizations go through phases or stages of sustainability as they develop a new way of doing business. Based on our more than two decades of work with hospitals and health systems, we believe there are five stages along the sustainability journey.

After using the Program Fundamentals Assessment to identify your organization's stage of sustainability across 10 elements of governance, your sustainability strategy manager works with you to co-create a 12-month partner plan for success. Each plan consists of tailored recommendations for peer learning and engagement through the Accelerating Health Care Sustainability series, an individualized consulting schedule, and actions to advance your program.

Apply proven guidance

No matter where you are on your journey, our proven guidance will help you establish strong fundamentals of sustainability governance or identify and prioritize opportunities to strengthen your existing program. Partners are encouraged to consult with their sustainability strategy manager on the most effective way to engage internal stakeholders in the success of their 12-month plan, which covers the four core components below.

 

 

 

 

 

Accelerating Health Care Sustainability series: Earn a certificate of completion

Our new learning and discussion series is essential for Practice Greenhealth partners who are interested in building career development skills to elevate your organization’s sustainability program. You’ll acquire strategies used by leaders in the health care sector and learn from others’ experiences.

“Integrating environmental sustainability into the way a hospital does business can be an overwhelming challenge. This program really helped me identify which elements to focus on to make my organization’s journey successful.” 
–  Jennifer Boothroyd, MPA, Northern Light Health manager of environmental sustainability

Our introductory sessions explore a different sustainability governance topic to ensure that you have a core understanding of the subject. Paired with a discussion forum later in the same week, you will learn from others’ experiences and participate in guided discussions and interactive exercises.

To get the most out of this series, we strongly suggest attending both the introductory session and the corresponding discussion forum during the same week. For partners who already have experience in the topic, attending the introductory session is not a prerequisite for participation in the discussion forum.

The recommended audiences for all sessions include:

• the primary sustainability leadership at a system level
• primary facility-level points of contact 
• sustainability or green team leadership 

Governance topics are not sequential and can be attended in any order (e.g., participants can attend “Introduction to securing leadership support” before they attend “Introduction to sustainability governance”).

The series takes place regularly throughout the year to allow partners to attend sessions that work best for their program development and individual schedules. Reach out to your sustainability strategy manager if you have questions about which of these sessions would be the best fit for you or other representatives from your organization to attend.

_{Educational disclaimer
This certification of completion is offered solely for educational and professional development purposes.}

_{Practice Greenhealth sponsors this series to foster skill-building, foundational education, and the integration of a sustainability culture within network partner organizations. The information presented is intended to further the health care sector’s general knowledge and advancement of sustainable, climate-smart operations.}

_{Continuing Education (CE) disclaimer
This series does not constitute continuing education (CE), and the completion of this series is NOT eligible for any continuing education credits whatsoever.}

_{Privacy disclaimer
Practice Greenhealth will only publish the name of an individual who has completed the series with written permission.} 

_{Intellectual property disclaimer
The Practice Greenhealth logo, series name, course titles, and any materials related to the Accelerating Health Care Sustainability Series are the intellectual property of Practice Greenhealth and may not be shared with non-Practice Greenhealth partners. For more information on intellectual property and copyright, please see Terms & Conditions.}