Primum non nocere – the phrase, according to Becker’s Hospital Review is common among physicians, meaning “First, do no harm” in Latin. But as hospitals, physician groups and other healthcare organizations integrate their care, they have started to adopt that philosophy in a broader context. The following two organizations are among the 50 hospitals that are the greenest healthcare organizations in the country. They have put ecological health, green initiatives including reducing medical waste, and environmental stewardship as foundational pieces of their mission. They lead by example through mass-scale and local carbon-cutting efforts, and they also demonstrate how environmental sustainability is everyone’s responsibility in playing a major role in the health of their surrounding population.
Kaiser Permanente Roseville (Calif.) Medical Center — Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente has made environmental sustainability a systemwide initiative, and Kaiser’s 340-bed Roseville Medical Center epitomizes the organization’s progress. Kaiser Permanente Roseville Medical Center has a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 30 percent by 2020. To achieve that goal, the hospital has taken several steps, including the adoption of a cogeneration power plant and upgraded exterior lighting. Kaiser Permanente Roseville Medical Center has also set goals to reduce water consumption by more than 15 million gallons every year, reprocess several tons of devices from operating rooms and increase its spending on sustainable food to 18 percent of its food budget by 2015.
UCSF Medical Center (San Francisco) — This past April, UCSF Medical Center published its first sustainability report, something few other hospitals and health systems do, but it represents UCSF’s budding green strategies. UCSF Medical Center creates its sustainability goals through the university’s LivingGreen program. Within this program, and as cited in its report, UCSF Medical Center saved $2.2 million last year through reprocessing medical devices, reducing medical waste, purchasing reusable pillows and obtaining rebates of energy-saving upgrades. The medical center saves roughly $250,000 per year, on average, through greening efforts in its operating rooms. If you would like to find out more about hospital spending, you can visit somewhere like AggregateSpendID to learn more. .
Read the full list of the 50 Greenest Hospitals here