Over the last five years, a growing number of health care leaders have begun to recognize the value of addressing environmental issues in the design and building of clinics and hospitals. Successful projects are sprouting up all across the nation, and facilities that embrace a greener vision are getting recognition for their very positive outcomes. Even more important, leaders of these efforts are sharing their experiences; guidance for building “green” in health care is far more available now than it was a few years ago.
The Center for Health Design’s Pebble Project tracks outcomes related to green building. There are currently 27 health care facilities registered with the Pebble Project. Some have shown impressive outcomes. Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo, MI, a Pebble Project member facility, focused on improving the overall environment for inpatients with innovations that included single-bed rooms, and improved airflow. These changes resulted in an 11% reduction in nosocomial infections, decrease in patient transfers, increase in patient sleep quality, higher employee satisfaction and lower nursing turnover rates. The hospital also reported a substantial increase in regional marketshare.
The U.S. Green Building Council is a coalition of leaders from across the building industry working to promote buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable, and healthy. The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System (r) is a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. LEED has a health care committee working to develop credits for design and construction specific to health care. There are approximately 30 health care facilities across the nation now registered with LEED.
The Green Guide for Health Care (GGHC.org) is a healthcare-specific, self-certifying tool developed to steer architects, designers and health care institutions through not only the green design and construction process, but also through implementation of greener operations. To date, 35 health care projects are signed onto the GGHC pilot project. Participation is free and gives participants access to a forum to share information with peers.
In April 2001, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the Facility Guidelines Institute (FGI) introduced the 2001 edition of the Guidelines for Design and Construction of Hospital and Health Care Facilities. Authorities in 42 states, the Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), and several federal agencies use the Guidelines as a reference standard when reviewing health care facilities.
The AIA 2006 guidelines (effective April 2006) will include best practices language for sustainable construction. AIA also supports mercury-free health care as established by the Memorandum of Understanding between the American Hospital Association and the Environmental Protection Agency. (To read this document, go to http://h2e-online.org/about/mou.htm.)
Since 1993, the Vista Awards—a program jointly sponsored by the American Society of Hospital Engineers (ASHE), the AIA, and the American Hospital Association (AHA)—have been a symbol of recognition for innovative green design and construction initiatives. The 2004 Sustainable Design Award was presented to the Center for Discovery, Harris, NY, a 28,000-square-foot diagnostic and treatment facility in rural New York state that provides primary/specialty medical and dental services for children and adults with profound neurological and developmental impairments. The Center is the first licensed medical facility in the state to implement green building standards that meet Department of Health requirements. Among the Center’s innovations are a ground-source heat-pump system; a tight, high-performance envelope; extensive daylighting; and energy-efficient equipment.
Energy Star is a government-backed program helping businesses and individuals protect the environment through superior energy efficiency. Energy Star currently has 148 partnering health care facilities, representing over 500 hospitals. Entire hospital systems have joined Energy Star, including the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), Triad, and Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI). The program named New York Presbyterian Hospital, “Energy Star Partner of the Year,” for their leadership in energy management. New York Presbyterian reported saving $700,000 through capital improvements and efficient operating systems strategies.
Energy Star has a 90-minute web-based training that teaches how to use US EPA’s Energy Performance Rating System to benchmark energy performance of acute care campuses and medical offices (http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=healthcare.bus_healthcare_workshops).
Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (H2E) is a fully-funded program to assist health care providers in improving health care’s environmental and safety impact. H2E isn’t only about what hospitals and clinics should do to improve their ecological footprint, it provides the tools, peer to peer sharing, and guidance to make these ideas a reality. There are currently 1,037 Partner hospitals and over 2,000 clinics from across the nation signed onto the H2E Program. (To see who is signed on in your region, go to http://h2e-online.org/programs/partner/p_mbr.cfm).
H2E Partners participate in a list-serve, monthly teleconferences, a monthly newsletter, Stat Green, and other member benefits. H2E’s 2006 Awards will be presented at Cleanmed, a conference addressing environmental purchasing in health care. The fourth conference on environmentally preferable purchasing and green building in health care will be held April 19–20, 2006 in Seattle, WA.
For more information:
The Center for Health Design (and the Pebble Project)—www.healthdesign.org; Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and the U.S. Green Building Council—www.USGBC.org; The Green Guide for Health Care—www.gghc.org; Hospitals for a Healthy Environment—www.h2e-online.org; EPA Energy Star—www.energystar.gov; American Institute of Architects—www.aia.org; Cleanmed—www.cleanmed.org; Health Care Without Harm—www.noharm.org.
Janet Brown is the Partner Coordinator for Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (H2E). The organization’s goals are to reduce the toxicity and volume of health care waste and to eliminate mercury from health care practice. Learn more about the organization at: www.h2e-online.org.
