Many of you are visiting this page because you have viewed the video, "Leading the Health Care Sector to Sustainability." If you have not seen the video, you may view it here.

All across the country many hospitals are engaged, to varying degrees, in efforts to develop sustainable operations. Others have not even begun, and wonder what sustainable health care is all about. We have provided a variety of resources to you here to help you along, no matter where you are in your sustainability journey.

If you have general questions, please email leadership@healthierhospitals.com

If you want to connect directly to one of our resources, please peruse the listing below and use the associated links.

Resources

• Healthier Hospitals Initiative

  The Healthier Hospitals Initiative (HHI), a coalition of major health systems and organizations committed to improving sustainability and safety across the healthcare sector, has created the Healthier Hospitals Agenda to chart a path to a healthier, more sustainable and more cost effective healthcare system. HHI is partnering with Health Care Without Harm, Practice Greenhealth, and The Center for Health Design to provide expertise and technical assistance, and to develop and implement training and other programs to help hospitals carry out the HHI agenda recommendations. For more information, email or call 866-998-0007.

• Practice Greenhealth

  Practice Greenhealth is a membership organization for hospitals and health care facilities engaged in sustainable healthcare. Practice Greenhealth provides a variety of resources, tools, educational programs and specialized guidance for hospitals on topics ranging from waste management to green purchasing. To find out more about Practice Greenhealth, visit www.practicegreenhealth.org. To speak to someone about Practice Greenhealth membership or its services, email Stan Cahill or call him at 866-598-2050.

• Health Care Without Harm

  "First Do No Harm." Together with its partners around the world, Health Care Without Harm shares a vision of a health care sector that does no harm, and instead promotes the health of people and the environment. Health Care Without Harm implements ecologically sound and healthy alternatives to health care practices that pollute the environment and contribute to disease. HCWH provides free information, programs, tools and guidance for those getting started in sustainable operations. For more information, visit www.noharm.org or call us at 703-860-9790.

• The Green Guide for Health Care

  The Green Guide for Health Care, established in 2002, is a project of the non-profit organizations Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) and Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems (CMPBS). The work of the Green Guide is undertaken by a Senior Director, three Co-Coordinators representing HCWH and CMPBS, and a diverse group of design, engineer, facility management, environmental and green building professionals with particular expertise in the health care sector who serve on Green Guide volunteer steering committees and working groups. Together, we advance compelling healthcare specific and health focused tools, technical guidance and educational resources. Our goal is to build a learning community to create high-performance healing environments and to accelerate their adoption and implementation in the United States, Canada, and around the world.

• CleanMed

  CleanMed CleanMed is the nation's most important and influential conference on sustainable health care. CleanMed brings the nation's preeminent health care leaders together with an outstanding lineup of health care sector operations experts, sustainability staff, and health sector supporting entities for an exciting three-day conference on sustainable health care. The CleanMed Exhibits and Exposition will showcase vendors and service providers that offer sustainable products and services to the health care sector.

• Center for Health Design

  The Center for Health Design was formed in 1993 by a small cadre of pioneering healthcare and design professionals committed to advancing a singular idea — that design could be used to improve patient outcomes in healthcare environments. Our passion proved contagious. Today, we're a far-reaching, international community leading the effort to improve the quality of healthcare facilities worldwide, as well as environments for healthy aging. Our forward-thinking members, partners and volunteers come from many fields including healthcare, elder care, architecture, interior design, construction, product design, product manufacturing, education and NGOs. For more information, please visit our website or call us 925-521-9404.

• Health Care Research Collaborative

  The Health Care Research Collaborative was developed to meet a need expressed by hospital and health system executives for more research and data to assist them in their efforts to make more sustainable choices in health care design, construction, operations and organization. The HCRC is based at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, with a mission to stimulate the development, coordination and dissemination of research focused on the impact of the health care built environment, operations and organization on patient, worker and environmental safety and sustainability. This interdisciplinary approach reflects the growing understanding among the leadership of health care providers that patient, provider, and community health and safety are profoundly interrelated.