Making healthcare and health systems net zero

Pencheon, David; Wight, Jeremy

doi:10.1136/bmj.m970

Cited by 26 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…6,7 37 A CMS working group of experts from the fields of health care operations, policy, sustainability, and medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturers and suppliers should oversee the development of standardized metrics. 6,7,38 Linking sustainability measures to payment could occur in several ways. First, CMS-certified facilities are required to comply with the Conditions for Coverage related to their physical environments, which could include limits on the amount of facility-level emissions.…”

Section: Exhibitmentioning

confidence: 99%

Health Care Pollution And Public Health Damage In The United States: An Update

et al. 2020

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An up-to-date assessment of environmental emissions in the US health care sector is essential to help policy makers hold the health care industry accountable to protect public health. We update nationallevel US health-sector emissions. We also estimate state-level emissions for the first time and examine associations with state-level energy systems and health care quality and access metrics. Economywide modeling showed that US health care greenhouse gas emissions rose 6 percent from 2010 to 2018, reaching 1,692 kg per capita in 2018-the highest rate among industrialized nations. In 2018 greenhouse gas and toxic air pollutant emissions resulted in the loss of 388,000 disability-adjusted life-years. There was considerable variation in state-level greenhouse gas emissions per capita, which were not highly correlated with health system quality. These results suggest that the health care sector's outsize environmental footprint can be reduced without compromising quality. To reduce harmful emissions, the health care sector should decrease unnecessary consumption of resources, decarbonize power generation, and invest in preventive care. This will likely require mandatory reporting, benchmarking, and regulated accountability of health care organizations.

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Section: Exhibitmentioning

confidence: 99%

Health Care Pollution And Public Health Damage In The United States: An Update

et al. 2020

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“…Measuring and monitoring progress and regular reporting using indicators have allowed the UK National Health Service to achieve remarkable success, reducing carbon emissions and moving to more sustainable forms of health care over the past 10 years. This information has been used to engage the health sector to drive further change, demonstrating the contribution of a well-chosen, system-level indicator, in this case carbon emissions, to create an aligned discussion (Pencheon and Wight 2020).…”

Section: Country Level Responsementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Inconsistencies undermine the capacity of a sector to provide transparent reporting on its progress which in turn affects credibility. Pencheon and Wight (2020) highlight the value of using the same national and international indicators for reporting in an area of practice.…”

Section: Sustainable Development Goals (Sdg) Indicator Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why use indicators to measure and monitor the inclusion of climate change and environmental sustainability in health professions’ education?

et al. 2020

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Currently, health professionals are inadequately prepared to meet the challenges that climate change and environmental degradation pose to health systems. Health professions' education (HPE) has an ethical responsibility to address this and must include the health effects of climate change and environmental sustainability across all curricula. As there is a narrow, closing window in which to take action to avoid the worst health outcomes from climate change, urgent, systematic, system-level change is required by the education sector. Measuring, monitoring, and reporting activity using indicators have been demonstrated to support change by providing a focus for action. A review of the literature on the use of indicators in medical education for climate change and health, however, yielded no publications. The framework of targets and indicators developed for implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 and the UNESCO initiative of the Education for Sustainable Development provide a guide for the development of indicators for HPE. Engaging stakeholders and achieving consensus on an approach to indicator development is essential and, where they exist, accreditation standards may have a supporting role. Creating capacity for environmentally sustainable health care at scale and pace should be our collective goal as health professions' educators.

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“…The Sustainable Development Unit of the UK National Health Service (NHS) was established in 2008, and the NHS has since reduced its carbon footprint by 19 percent over the 10 year period to 2018 [5]. Analysis of these efforts was published in The British Medical Journal [6]. Other prestigious medical journals have been amplifying calls to action, with editorials published in The Lancet [7], The New England Journal of Medicine [8] and The Medical Journal of Australia [9].…”

Section: Introduction: Health and Energymentioning

confidence: 99%

Healthy Power: Reimagining Hospitals as Sustainable Energy Hubs

et al. 2020

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Human health is a key pillar of modern conceptions of sustainability. Humanity pays a considerable price for its dependence on fossil-fueled energy systems, which must be addressed for sustainable urban development. Public hospitals are focal points for communities and have an opportunity to lead the transition to renewable energy. We have reimagined the healthcare energy ecosystem with sustainable technologies to transform hospitals into networked clean energy hubs. In this concept design, hydrogen is used to couple energy with other on-site medical resource demands, and vanadium flow battery technology is used to engage the public with energy systems. This multi-generation system would reduce harmful emissions while providing reliable services, tackling the linked issues of human and environmental health.

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Making healthcare and health systems net zero

Abstract: Health systems are large contributors to national carbon footprints. David Pencheon and Jeremy Wight examine what we know about how to reduce emissions

Cited by 26 publications

References 9 publications

Health Care Pollution And Public Health Damage In The United States: An Update

Health Care Pollution And Public Health Damage In The United States: An Update

Why use indicators to measure and monitor the inclusion of climate change and environmental sustainability in health professions’ education?

Healthy Power: Reimagining Hospitals as Sustainable Energy Hubs

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