OAKLAND, CA – A new coalition of organizations is hoping to use its collective influence to encourage providers to create healthier hospital environments.
The Global Health and Safety Initiative is hoping to take some steps in 2008 that will encourage environmentally friendly healthcare facilities. Founding members include Kaiser Permanente, Health Care Without Harm, the Center for Health Design and Hospitals for a Healthy Environment, among others.
That leverage can help bring about change and lower costs – one of the more significant barriers to “going green,” members believe.
“If we collaborate, we can create leverage in the marketplace for safer and healthier practices that protect patients and staff while reducing our overall environmental footprint,” said George C. Halvorson, chairman and CEO of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc.
The initiative, formed in October, is developing a purchasing task force to prioritize safer and environmentally sustainable products and supplies, and a sector-wide sustainable purchasing strategy to drive markets for cleaner energy, safer products and innovative green technologies. The inaugural meeting attracted representatives from about 20 of the nation’s largest and most influential integrated delivery systems, representing 200 facilities and more than 100,000 beds.
The meeting also attracted representatives from four large national group purchasing organizations, representing hospitals that are responsible for 50 percent of spending in healthcare, as well as professional organizations and representatives from government.
“This will take a degree of time because we have to convince the manufacturers that the industry as a whole is interested in this,” said Dean Edwards, vice president and chief procurement officer for Kaiser.
Kaiser, one of the founding members, has long been interested in environmental stewardship, reducing toxic materials used in facilities and minimizing waste, said Kathy Gerwig, the chain’s director of national resource conservation.
Kaiser has worked for years to get supply manufacturers to provide safer supplies but can’t always convince manufacturers to change, she said.
“With our buying power by itself, it’s not enough to move the market,” she said. “We can get some enormous buying power with the GPOs.”
High-priority objectives for next year include forming a purchasing task force to prioritize a list of products and supplies targeted for change; developing an eco-footprint model for healthcare to engage the sector in policies to support an agenda that includes avoiding toxic, hazardous materials; establishing a research collaborative; and creating an open-source community to share best practices.
“Only through collaboration can we trim the timeline (for change) down,” Gerwig said. “We think this will accelerate performance in this area. We really view this as improving community health, because all these things have a direct impact on human health.”