Premier Healthcare Alliance Receives National Recognition For Environmental Excellence For Seventh Consecutive Year

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 25 May 2009 - 2:00 PDT

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The Premier healthcare alliance received the "Champion for Change" award from Practice Greenhealth (PGH) in recognition for leadership in advancing environmental best practices in healthcare. This marks the seventh consecutive year that Premier has been awarded this distinction.

The Champion for Change award is given to organizations that have demonstrated success in greening their own organizations and leadership in helping others improve their environmental stewardship. More than 80 Premier hospital alliance members were also honored by PGH across six categories.

Premier was selected for the award for its commitment to a clean environment, evidenced in its GreenHealthy™ program, led by the Premier Safety Institute . GreenHealthy includes Premier's environmentally preferable purchasing program; an internal corporate-wide Yes to Green program; leadership education and "quick win" case studies on sustainability best practices; and SPHERE (Securing Proven Healthcare Energy Reduction (for the) Ecosystem), a collaborative climate and energy initiative to reduce the healthcare industry's carbon footprint.

"According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, pollution and other toxins in our environment can lead to neurological, respiratory, developmental and other chronic illnesses that are damaging the overall health of communities," said Susan DeVore, Premier's incoming president and CEO. "We are extremely proud of our environmental track record, which has successfully helped hospitals reduce greenhouse gas emissions; recycle floor coverings, lab solvents, and construction waste; purchase organically grown foods; and increase energy efficiency - all while improving the quality of patient care."

Most recently, Premier launched its energy initiative, SPHERE, to help hospitals reduce their carbon footprint and energy costs with tools, resources and case studies for energy conservation, benchmarking energy consumption, and reverse auction purchasing strategies to purchase energy at a lower cost and include a portion from renewable sources. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, hospitals consume almost 50 billion kilowatt hours and spend almost $3 billion each year on electricity alone. If hospitals improved their energy efficiency by 30 percent, the annual electricity savings would be close to $1 billion, and 11 million fewer tons of carbon dioxide would be emitted - the equivalent of taking 2 million cars off the road.

"Premier and our members recognized early the need to reduce our energy consumption and rely more heavily on sustainable products and resources, and that foresight is paying off," said Gina Pugliese, vice president, Premier Safety Institute. "Since launching our reverse energy auction program, we have delivered an estimated savings of more than $2.4 million to hospitals and avoided 10,500 tons of CO2 emissions."

Details about the Premier's environmental programs are available at http://www.premierinc.com/safety. Green Corner, one of Premier's environmental Web resources, showcases hospital and supplier success stories about green initiatives that contribute to a safer, healthier community.

Source
Premier healthcare alliance

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