commentGroups Merge to Coordinate Greening of Hospitals
Practice Greenhealth, a new nonprofit organization, hopes to shake up America’s healthcare industry. The organization is largely an expanded version of Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (H2E), which was born in 1993 as a joint project of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the American Hospital Association.
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Practice Greenhealth also absorbed two other preexisting programs: the Green Guide for Health Care and the Healthcare Clean Energy Exchange. The Green Guide, a project of HCWH and the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems, was launched in 2004 as a rating system to evaluate and improve the environmental responsibility of the planning, design, construction, operations, and maintenance of healthcare facilities.
The organization also hopes to take on some new activities, including onsite training sessions. The organization currently has about 650 members—most of which transferred over from H2E. About 90% of these are healthcare facilities, with the remainder split between businesses (which include architecture and design firms, group-purchasing organizations, and other companies) and strategic network members (which include nonprofits, associations, and government agencies). The annual membership fee ranges from $200 for the smallest nonprofits to $20,000 for the largest businesses.
This article was produced by BuildingGreen, LLC.- www.buildinggreen.com
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