The Falls Church Patch reports that Inova Fairfax Medical Campus has been named one of the “50 Greenest Hospitals in America” by Becker’s Hospital Review, which covers business and legal news relating to hospitals. To create its list, Beckers consulted with a variety of organizations at the forefront of best practices in healthcare sustainability, including Health Care Without Harm, Practice Greenhealth, the Healthier Hospitals Initiative, the US Green Building Council, the EPA
Since hosting a landmark 1992 conference on the impact of healthcare on the environment, Inova has pursued environmental sustainability as a core business strategy. These efforts have helped the healthcare system cut costs while improving the health of patients, employees and community members. Inova has expanded its environmental sustainability efforts to encompass programming related to waste, energy, purchasing, food, water, transportation, building, IT, community benefit and employee wellness. Examples of achievements include:
• Recycling: Inova’s single stream recycling program will hit its 10 millionth pound of waste recycled during the last quarter of 2013.
• Single-Use Device Reprocessing: Inova has saved $2.8 million and reduced approximately 60,000 lbs of waste since 2010 through its single-use medical device reprocessing program, which safely extends the life of common disposable medical products.
• Healthier Hospitals Initiative: In 2012, Inova became a founding sponsor of the Healthier Hospitals Initiative (HHI), a national campaign to drive the adoption of health and environmentally sustainable practices in healthcare. Inova committed to achieving goals in all six of the HHI’s challenge areas, and CEO Knox Singleton was invited to highlight these efforts during a White House panel on Greening America’s Hospitals.