Environmental Valuation & Cost-Benefit News

To help more hospitals share best practices for developing "green" – or environmentally sound – programs, the Premier Safety Institute recently launched a new public Web site, "Green Corner."

Located at www.premierinc.com/greencorner, the site showcases hospital and supplier success stories about "green" initiatives that contribute to a safer, healthier community environment. Stories are categorized under major topics, such as energy savings and waste reduction, making it easy for hospitals to find specific information on programs of interest.

"Going green" not only is a smart way for hospitals to protect the environment, it also allows them to reduce operational costs, gain a competitive advantage and keep staff and patients satisfied.

"'Green Corner' provides a valuable resource for healthcare professionals seeking anecdotes about how their peers in the hospital industry are tackling important community environmental issues – both simple and complex," said Gina Pugliese, RN, vice president of the Premier Safety Institute. Pugliese noted that such information can provide an important starting point for projects whose ultimate goal is to reduce waste, save money and protect a community's quality of life both now and for future generations.

The new site also complements the Safety Institute's free, electronic newsletter, "Green Link," that highlights the latest news on "green" healthcare practices and purchasing.

In addition, "Green Corner" expands the Premier Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) program's public suite of offerings – which currently includes electronic tools to support critical environmental efforts such as mercury pollution prevention and computer recycling. Premier's EPP program, a collaboration of the Safety Institute and Premier's group purchasing program, supports the efforts of members and the industry-at-large to enhance the safety and health of patients, healthcare workers and the environment. For example, on behalf of hundreds of hospitals and the communities they serve, the EPP program recently secured purchasing agreements with Dell and Gateway for computers and electronic devices that address significant environmental concerns regarding the manufacturing, use and end-of-life disposal and/or recycling of electronics.

Two examples of success stories follow:

The goals of the Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center's Environmental Servicesteam’s paper recycling program were to offer recycling options to medical center employees, provide a place to dispose of confidential patient information and reduce the overall cost of waste disposal. By 2004, the medical center had recycled 283 tons of paper and 355 tons of cardboard. With the onset of HIPAA
privacy regulations that took effect in 2004, the department was allocated one additional full-time employee to provide the service for the entire main campus. Since 2004, Beth Israel Deaconess has recycled an additional 400 tons of paper and 337 tons of cardboard. Since the effort began in 2002, the program has diverted 1,375 tons of paper and cardboard from its solid waste stream, saving the hospital more than $150,000.

Saint Francis Care of Hartford, CT, the largest Catholic hospital in New England, isn’t content being among the top 10 percent energy efficient businesses in the country. Designated as an Energy Star business, the 617-bed medical center has a long track record of projects aimed at improving environmental health. Since receiving its first Energy Star label in 2003, Saint Francis has become the first hospital in Connecticut to install its own fuel cell. The 200-kilowatt unit supplements the hospital’s electric power grid feed to provide base load power to Saint Francis and supplemental power in the event of a problem with the grid.

The hospital also recovers the heat produced by the fuel cell to improve the performance and increase the efficiency of its hot water systems. In 2005, the hospital’s fuel cell had a 57 percent operating efficiency, reducing fuel consumption by 25 percent and CO2 emissions by 690 tons per year.

Saint Francis is currently working on a major energy conservation project that will include HVAC, lighting and upgraded boiler controls. The result will be a projected savings of more than $2 million annually.

The hospital recently began to implement a facility-wide Results Based Maintenance (RBM) program to validate HVAC performance and identify further savings opportunities. Building management suspected that the facility’s temperature control system was not properly programmed in one wing of the building after learning that hospital personnel were routinely adjusting thermostats in the morning because they were too warm, and changing them during the day to compensate for fluctuations in temperature, partly attributed to higher staffing levels. Making use of OptiNet, a suite of technologies and sensing capabilities for facility-wide performance based monitoring and control, the hospital first conducted a HVAC survey to independently review temperature and humidity, filtration efficiency, control strategies, ventilation efficiency and potential pollutants. Two test areas on each of the two floors were sampled. These four points were chosen to maximize the coverage of the monitoring system on each floor, sampling both a densely populated area and an open area. Each floor consists of an open reception area, a central nurses’ station, and a separate area of small treatment rooms served by a common hallway. The system validated their suspicions and revealed that temperature controls during the heating season were incorrectly programmed. In three of the four test areas, the night setback function was not operating and space temperature was remaining constant. In the fourth area, it was discovered that the settings were inverted, bringing temperatures from 76 degrees during occupied hours to 84 degrees during all 13 unoccupied hours. Resetting the controls system for proper night setback helped building management add to its energy savings. Using the Optima monitor with its reporting tool, survey results indicated ventilation rates ranging from 81 to 140 cubic feet per minute (CFM) per person. CFM measures the amount of air a blower or fan can move in a given period of time. Saint Francis estimated that it could generate energy savings by lowering a current rate of 86 CFM to a new rate of 25 CFM per person. Including savings from night setback and economizer settings, the facility is positioned to save approximately $9,100 per year in total energy costs in this 30,000 square foot area.

The facility’s laundry operates six days a week, processing 7 million pounds in 2005 alone. The hospital looked into retrofitting its existing equipment to use ozone as a means to save energy, water and chemicals. The plan worked. Ozone allows the equipment to run
at lower temperatures with equal or better efficacy than before.
After investing $100,000 in an EnviroSaver II Ozone installation from WET-TECH, the hospital began realizing immediate savings. Mark Arcelaschi, general manager, estimated that the $100,000 investment paid for itself in just over one year. The entire ozone system was recently moved to a new laundry facility, which will produce 12 million pounds of laundry for Saint Francis and three other hospitals.

About Premier, 2006 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient

Serving 1,700 hospitals and more than 45,000 other healthcare sites, Premier Inc. is the largest healthcare alliance in the United States dedicated to improving patient outcomes while safely reducing the cost of care. Owned by not-for-profit hospitals, Premier operates the nation's largest healthcare purchasing network, the most comprehensive repository of hospital clinical and financial information and one of the largest policy-holder owned, hospital professional liability risk-retention groups in healthcare. Premier's Safety Institute provides publicly available safety resources and tools to promote a safe healthcare delivery environment for patients, workers, and the environment. Headquartered in San Diego, Premier has offices in Charlotte, N.C. and Washington. For more information, visit www.premierinc.com.

Source: Press Release from Premier Inc. www.premierinc.com
April 13, 2007
http://www.premierinc.com/quality-safety/tools-services/safety/news/2007/04/green-corner-press-release-04-13-07.jsp
Contact: Gina Pugliese, RN, MS, Vice president, Safety Institute