Sustainable procurement means buying goods and services while thinking about their long-term effects on the environment, society, and money. It is not just about price and quality. It also looks at lowering carbon emissions, making sure workers are treated fairly, and supporting local businesses.
Healthcare organizations use many resources like medical supplies, office equipment, and technology services. This means buying decisions affect both their environmental impact and costs. Over 70% of a healthcare system’s greenhouse gas emissions come from what they buy, not from energy use. This shows why buying with sustainability in mind is important.
By mixing care for the environment with good economic and social choices, healthcare providers can save money, follow rules, improve their public image, and help create healthier communities.
Healthcare groups in the U.S. often work with tight budgets and rising costs. Using sustainable buying methods can help lower costs while keeping or improving service quality.
Sustainable purchasing helps use resources well by reducing waste. Studies show healthcare groups can save between 9% and 16% by buying more efficiently.
For example, buying reusable items or supplies made from recycled materials can reduce how much needs to be bought again. Also, better buying processes make work easier for staff because they don’t have to handle too much inventory or deal with too many returns and waste.
Healthcare buying must follow many rules. Laws like the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s climate rules ask companies to share how they handle environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. These rules mainly target big companies but healthcare groups face increasing pressure from payers, the government, and others to report on sustainability.
By using sustainability rules for buying, healthcare groups can meet these rules better and avoid risks like supply problems or bad publicity from unsafe or unfair suppliers.
Sustainable buying helps local economies by working with local suppliers, small businesses, and minority-owned companies. This supports the community, makes supplies more reliable, and encourages new ideas like low-carbon medical devices or eco-friendly packaging.
Healthcare groups known for social responsibility can attract and keep skilled workers. This is important because the medical field faces many staffing problems now.
The healthcare sector has a big impact on the environment. It causes about 6% to 8% of global carbon emissions. In the U.S., hospitals and clinics add to greenhouse gases, trash, water pollution, and using up natural resources. Sustainable buying helps lower these effects in several ways.
Since over 70% of healthcare emissions come from bought products and services, cutting emissions in buying is key to lowering overall emissions.
Choosing energy-saving equipment, products with recycled materials, or supplies made in eco-friendly ways lowers the carbon output of healthcare operations. This matches global goals like the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and net-zero emissions targets.
Hospitals and clinics can also help their suppliers use cleaner technology and better production methods, which adds more environmental benefit up the supply chain.
Sustainable buying encourages the circular economy idea, where products are made and bought to be reused, recycled, or to create less waste. In healthcare, this might mean buying longer-lasting or refurbishable equipment, using packaging that breaks down naturally or can be recycled, or only using disposable items when really needed.
Handling medical waste better helps reduce trash going to landfills and lowers risks related to hazardous bio waste. This helps the environment and ensures following environmental laws.
Sustainability also means being fair and responsible to people. Ethical buying focuses on good working conditions, diversity, and helping communities.
Healthcare organizations can ask their suppliers to follow fair labor rules, keep workers safe, and promote diversity. They do this by including social conditions in contracts and reviews. Buying from minority and local businesses builds stronger communities and may improve how patients and staff feel.
Also, sustainable buying means choosing safer, non-toxic materials and products, which can improve the health of both patients and workers.
Healthcare groups can use a step-by-step method called the “plan-do-check-act” cycle. This method is used in improving clinical quality and helps guide sustainable buying:
Practice Greenhealth is an organization in the U.S. that supports over 1,500 hospitals and health systems with tools and programs using this cycle. They help healthcare groups grow their sustainability efforts.
Using artificial intelligence (AI) and automation offers new ways to improve sustainable buying in healthcare.
AI can study large amounts of data from supply chains to find patterns in how suppliers perform, their environmental effects, and cost efficiency. This helps buying teams make smart choices about suppliers with strong sustainability records. AI can also predict demand better, cutting over-buying and waste.
AI’s forecasting helps manage inventory so that medical practices buy only what they need, reducing waste and lowering storage costs.
Automation tools handle routine tasks like processing purchase orders, onboarding suppliers, checking compliance, and sustainability reporting. This cuts down on manual work for administrators and lets staff focus on bigger sustainability projects and working closely with suppliers.
AI platforms show dashboards that track ESG performance across the supply chain. They can alert when suppliers do not meet sustainability rules. This encourages suppliers to improve so they can keep working with healthcare providers.
Using AI and automation, U.S. healthcare organizations can better control sustainable buying, evaluate suppliers faster, and show clear progress on environmental and social goals.
Healthcare providers in the U.S. face special challenges when starting sustainable buying:
Still, there are chances to improve:
Practice managers, owners, and IT leaders who act early on sustainable buying can help their groups save money and cut emissions while making patient care and communities better.
Sustainable buying gives clear economic, environmental, and social benefits to healthcare groups in the U.S. By using planned buying methods with sustainability rules and adding AI and automation tools, hospitals and clinics can use resources better, meet more rules, and show they care for health and the planet for the future.
The guide provides health care organizations with a step-by-step approach to developing a sustainable purchasing strategy that emphasizes community and environmental health while reducing costs.
Sustainable procurement is crucial as healthcare is resource-intensive and can leverage buying power to promote financial sustainability and benefit patients, staff, and the environment.
Benefits include significant cost reductions, maintaining operations during crises, attracting and retaining talent, promoting innovation, and addressing supply chain inequities and health hazards.
More than 70% of a health system’s greenhouse gas emissions are embedded in the products and services they purchase.
The guide utilizes a ‘plan-do-check-act’ cycle, a common quality process improvement method in healthcare, to develop and implement effective sustainable procurement programs.
It leads to cost reductions through more efficient resource use, streamlined processes, and better labor management, which collectively enhance financial performance.
The guide details best practices for engaging internal stakeholders and suppliers to drive sustainable procurement efforts and align them with organizational goals.
Organizations are encouraged to consider the total cost of ownership of products to reduce their environmental impact and promote sustainable practices among suppliers.
Hospitals can act as responsible stewards by reducing their environmental impact and encouraging suppliers to adopt sustainable practices through their procurement strategies.
More than 43,000 hospitals and health systems are part of a global network focused on sustainable operations through organizations like Practice Greenhealth.
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