Environmental Sustainability in Hospitals: the Value of Efficiency

Pursuit of environmental sustainability has multiple benefits for hospitals. It’s good for business when it helps lower operational costs and allows hospitals to direct more resources to patient care. It also contributes to a healthier environment, enhances an organization’s public perception, and helps local communities.

This new guide for hospital leaders discusses these universal steps for achieving greater sustainability:

• Make the commitment
• Create a culture for supporting environmental sustainability
• Support and finance environmental sustainability
• Set goals and measure, report and evaluate change
• Celebrate and share successes
• Continue to assess and identify new opportunities

Examples of sustainability opportunities related to energy, water, supply chain, waste, and commissioning/retrocomissioning [ensuring complex buildings and equipment operate as intended] are included along with four hospital case studies. Finally, benchmarking tools and other sustainability resources are listed.

Source: Environmental sustainability in hospitals: the value of efficiency. Health Research & Educational Trust; and American Society for Healthcare Engineering of the American Hospital Association. May 2014. http://www.hpoe.org/resources/hpoehretaha-guides/1621

Related resources:

Sustainability roadmap for hospitals: a guide for achieving your sustainability goals [web site]. American Hospital Association; American Society for Healthcare Engineering; Association for the Healthcare Environment; and Association for Healthcare Resource & Materials Management, accessed June 13, 2014 at http://www.sustainabilityroadmap.org/

Practice Greenhealth [web site]. Accessed June 13, 2014 at https://practicegreenhealth.org/

Posted by AHA Resource Center (312) 422-2050, rc@aha.org