Hospitals saving green by going green

Check out this interesting article in the Economist about how to reduce the level of greenhouse gas emissions caused by hospitals.

It cites a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association that estimates that 8% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions come from hospitals. Unfortunately, a solution is not as simple as building more efficient hospitals or reducing the amount energy expended to care for patients. That's because most of the carbon emissions are the result of pharmaceutical and medical equipment waste.

So what can hospitals do? The only truly effective remedy, as proposed in the article, is to simply keep patients out of hospitals...easier said than done, unfortunately. This would require more prevention, consultations over the phone/internet, and perhaps even doctor home-visits.

Much has already been discussed about the benefits of treating chronic diseases at the patients' home instead of in a hospital bed. These benefits would contribute to lower health care spending (an extremely relevant topic), greener practices, and improved safety and quality. In addition to the supposed better health of patients who have engaged in preventive measures, these patients would also eliminate the risk of serious infections that can occur in a hospital. The result: money saved and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.