From the vinyl in their flooring to the contents of their cleaning bottles, health care facilities have a disproportionately large impact on the environment. Collectively, they consume $6.5 billion in energy—the country's second–most intensive building sector—and generate at least 2 million tons of waste every year. This not only harms the overall environment; it may also negatively affect the health of patients and health care workers. To truly fulfill their healing mission, health care facilities need to minimize their environmental impact while adopting policies, procedures and innovations that promote well–being rather than expose workers and patients to potentially harmful toxins.

The health care arena is at a crossroad—facing an estimated $200 billion hospital construction boom over the next decade, facilities may see their environmental burden increase dramatically, or they may seize the opportunity to adopt innovative strategies that span building design and construction, purchasing, housekeeping, waste management and other operations. Increasingly, hospitals across the U.S. are learning that the materials in their flooring, chemicals in their cleaners and design of their ventilation systems all matter when it comes to influencing the environment and people's health.

Numerous studies, for instance, have linked exposure to Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), routinely found in hospital flooring and IV bags, with elevated asthma rates and other respiratory illnesses. Later, at the end of its life cycle, PVC releases dioxin, a highly toxic human carcinogen. Early evidence suggests, however, that facilities can take important steps by adopting promising environmental practices in health care settings that also have the potential to improve the health and safety of patients and employees.

Health Care Without Harm is an international coalition working to transform the health care sector so that it is ecologically sustainable and reduces harm to public health and the environment. A grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Pioneer Portfolio supports a network of 25 hospitals and health care systems established to research and adopt environmentally sound practices that promote the health and safety of patients and workers. The collaborative will build a base of evidence for facilities throughout the health care sector to consult that will include best practices and practical applications, implementation case studies and broader policy or code changes needed to make improvements.

Learn more about the Program Area: Pioneer