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SPECIAL FOCUS


said. “While it certainly feels good, achiev- ing support for sustainability doesn’t mean immediate change. The hospitals with the most successful sustainability initiatives have strong, engaged leaders who have moved beyond just buying-in to the con- cept of the work — they take ownership over progress and results. To ensure last- ing, facility-wide change, build support among key decision-makers throughout all levels of the organization.” Second, start with easy wins. “Capture early success by going after the low- hanging fruit, easy-to-implement sustain- ability strategies that require little capital investment and save money from day one,” Howard said. “Waste prevention is a good place to start. Hospitals and healthcare facilities generate tremendous amounts waste and pay much higher disposal costs than most industries. Energy reduction can also be a win. Because [hospitals] operate 24/7, a typical hospital’s annual energy bill runs $1 million to $3 million, depending on its size and location. With low-hanging fruit, even simple changes can lead to dra- matic reductions.”


Third, develop a sustainability base-


line. “You can’t manage what you don’t measure,” Howard insisted. “An accurate baseline allows organizations to under- stand where they are starting from, be it in energy and water use, the creation of waste and greenhouse gas emissions or the amount of local, organic food served in your cafeteria. Setting a baseline and measuring improvement also gives you the opportunity to celebrate environmental successes to date. Not only does data help document change and progress, but it also alerts you when sustainability programs are not performing as well as they should. Last but certainly not least, having metrics allows hospitals to understand how they measure up to their competitors.” Where Practice Greenhealth spans an ex-


pansive spectrum of environmental issues, Synergy Health concentrates its efforts in the operating room where it emphasizes that 30 percent of a hospital’s medical waste stream originates.


“It is documented that the average surgi- cal procedure produces an average of 4.62 pounds of disposable waste,” revealed Vickie Alexander, Director of Corporate Solutions, Synergy Health. “Surprisingly, the large volume of medical waste and environmental burdens included here are generated by approximately eight very common disposable items used in high


volume, per each case, on a repeated daily basis.” Alexander’s company works with facilities to convert those products to reusable versions. Howard listed these products as key tar- gets: Surgical gowns, towels,


Vickie Alexander


back-table covers, mayo covers, basins and bowls, instrument sterilization wrap, medium and large surgical flat sheets and basin wraps/ring-stand drapes. “It is now widely accepted that hospi- tals are the second largest contributor to landfill waste materials,” Alexander indi- cated. “The healthcare sector is estimated to produce 8 percent of the global carbon footprint. Hospital disposable products generate 2 million tons of landfill and incineration waste per year. The hospital- ity industry is the only larger contributor in generating daily waste that must be disposed.”


One defensive mechanism against green or sustainable products involves percep- tions of them being more expensive, which Practice Greenhealth tries to debunk on its website (https://practicegreenhealth.org/ node/16157): “While it may have been fac- tually correct at one time, this statement is no longer accurate,” Practice Greenhealth states. “The healthcare industry and its suppliers has made significant strides to deliver environmentally preferable prod- ucts at cost-competitive prices. Often, by making the switch to more environmen- tally sustainable products or strategies, fa- cilities realize significant financial savings. Sometimes, items or strategies do require an upfront investment or might still be more expensive; however, other aspects such as worker and patient safety, waste generation, energy consumption, chemical and hazardous by-products, and others need to be factored into the equation.” Bill Scott, Senior Director of Marketing, Stryker Sustainability Solutions, concurs, at least when it comes to sin- gle-use device reprocessing. “When evaluating health -


care sustainability initiatives, it’s important to recognize that environmentally-pref- erable purchasing does not always mean higher costs,” Scott said. “Single-use device (SUD) reprocessing is one example of a ‘sustainability win-win,’ safely saving health systems millions of dollars and preventing thousands of tons of medical waste from entering landfills


Bill Scott 12 September 2015 • HEALTHCARE PURCHASING NEWS • www.hpnonline.com


every year. However, not all reprocessing programs are the same, and selection of the right reprocessing vendor is key to gaining administrative and clinical support for your program. The success of a reprocessing program is directly tied to engagement from across the organization. Your reprocess- ing vendor should be equally invested in achieving results — educating administra- tive and clinical staff, providing case sup- port and regularly hosting business reviews to identify areas of opportunity. Achieving optimal savings results requires a strong vendor partnership and a commitment to driving participation.”


Hitting some hurdles


Even when an organization ranks sus- tainability as an important priority, chal- lenging issues may emerge to complicate processes.


On the surface, product conversions with the promise of generating successful results due in part to high levels of staff acceptance may seem simple — and can be, according to Alexander. But some- times in larger healthcare organizations “demanding operational criteria” must be considered first.


For example, the CFO will want to know whether the sustainable products will gen- erate a savings, cost more or be cost neutral. Surgical Services, on the other hand, will focus on product quality, staff and sur- geon acceptance, surgical supply expense budget, product handling, internal logis- tics, product function and performance, patient care enhancements, impact on OR efficiencies, educational support for staff, implementation parameters and product trial opportunities. Infection Control will concentrate on processing standards, proto- cols and sterilization methodology. Supply Chain will focus on budgetary impacts, contractual issues, distribution reliability and accountability and credible reference information. The CEO may question general business credentials and stability, contract criteria and community impact of partici- pating in a sustainable “greening” program, according to Alexander.


“The most innovative organizations are


using an intentional approach to avoid products, services and materials that can have negative impacts on patients, staff and our communities — impacts that run counter to healthcare’s healing mission,” Howard said. “In fact, healthcare is moving more towards environmentally preferable purchasing than it ever has before.”


See SPECIAL FOCUS on page 14


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