While environmental sustainability is getting increased attention, it is rarely seen as a top priority for U.S. hospitals. According to the American College of Healthcare Executives’ most recent Top Issues Confronting Hospitals CEO survey, that honor still goes to “workforce challenges,” followed closely by “financial challenges.”
Maybe this explains why 85% of U.S. health systems are still shying away from public commitments such as the Department of Health and Human Services Health Sector Climate Pledge. But it doesn’t explain why so many of the health systems that signed the pledge are also such widely recognized national names. What might the leaders of those organizations know that many others don’t?
It could be that in many of these places, sustainability is not viewed as an add-on challenge. Instead, they have found ways to make sustainability part of their solution to challenges they were already experiencing. Consider the top two challenges the ACHE CEO survey identified:
Sustainability as a workforce solution
Addressing workforce gaps involves making a health system a compelling place to work, and keeping staff engaged once they are working there. Sustainability may not come immediately to mind as relevant to talent attraction and engagement strategies, but research suggests it can play an important role. Recent surveys by the Pew Research Center found more than two-thirds of Generation Z and Millennial adults believe climate should be a top priority. Another survey by Deloitte found that over 40% plan to change jobs (or have already) if they feel their employer is not doing enough to address climate change. Other research from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication found that younger generations, women and especially women of color had even higher rates of concern about global warming than other groups.
These effects may be even more pronounced for clinicians. Recent research from The Commonwealth Fund found that almost 80% said it was important to them that their employer plays a role in addressing climate change/minimizing its impact on the environment. Even more importantly, more than half said their employer’s policies and actions on reducing their environmental impact could play a role in their decision to continue working there.
Sustainability as a financial solution
When some healthcare leaders hear sustainability, their immediate association is with capital equipment purchases, such as solar arrays, lighting systems or high-efficiency boilers. At times when finances are especially tight, the temptation is to wait until a more forgiving fiscal year. But the evidence suggests the opposite may be true: Managed well, sustainability initiatives can pay for themselves and yield net savings over time.
Operating rooms provide many good examples. A recent scoping review of 23 peer-reviewed studies of environmental initiatives in these settings found average savings of $105,220 across them. Interventions focused on waste reduction were particularly impactful, saving an average of $129,000.
Pursued systematically, savings from these types of interventions can really add up. The nonprofit Practice Greenhealth, which runs a voluntary annual survey of sustainability practices for its members, reported $197 million in savings across their 370 participating hospitals—an average of over $500,000 each.
The Practice Greenhealth results are based on 2022 data, which do not reflect tax incentives and direct pay provisions now available through the Inflation Reduction Act, the U.S. government’s largest climate investment in history. The Department of Health and Human Services is eager for health systems to benefit from these resources while they can and has rolled out a Catalytic Program to provide webinars, technical assistance and specialized breakout sessions for essential hospitals, community health centers and rural providers. Access to these free sessions is available here and will run through April 2024.
Sustainability work is not just good for the environment and for human health. It can also help address two of the most pressing challenges healthcare leaders are experiencing today.
Andrew N. Garman, PsyD, is professor/senior leadership development advisor, Rush University/IHF Geneva Sustainability Centre. He will expand upon these concepts and co-present at the Boot Camp, “Navigating Net Zero: Essential Leadership for Today and Tomorrow,” with Seema Wadhwa, executive director, Environmental Stewardship, Kaiser Permanente, and Jonathan Perlin, MD, PhD, president/CEO, The Joint Commission, at the 2024 Congress on Healthcare Leadership. Register today.