Healthcareix reports that “the practice of reprocessing single-use medical devices arouses the suspicion of some hospitals and healthcare leaders. But many more are finding that they can save millions of dollars in costs for their organizations by reprocessing alone.”
Hospitals are starting to factor “green revolving funds” into their budgets to “finance these initiatives, which invest in their energy-efficiency strategies…Then they are taking the return on those energy and waste-reduction initiatives to invest in the next level.”
Founder of Healthier Hospitals Initiative, Gary Cohen described, “If you aren’t doing those things, you just aren’t operating an efficient business in healthcare. On the waste side, there’s almost no capital expenditure at all, it’s just process change, [toward] recycling and waste segregation, so that waste goes down, so that doesn’t spend any money. That’s just attention, it’s just a matter of learning from others. Reprocessing saves lots of money.”
HHI’s report states, “It demonstrates the transition of healthcare sustainability from grassroots to leadership offices, indicating that it is becoming less of a one-off trend and more of a strategic priority for healthcare organizations.”