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.
Key Points
Question
Do large health care organizations participate in the business trend to report on sustainability activities?
Findings
In this cohort study of 49 large US health care organizations appearing on 2015 or 2016 lists of the largest US corporations (Fortune 500, S&P 500, Forbes 100 Largest Charities, Largest State Employers, and largest health care systems by facilities owned), 50% of Fortune 500, 33% of S&P 500, and 12% of all health care corporations published a sustainability report compared with 78% of Fortune 500 and 82% of S&P 500 corporations.
Meaning
Sustainability reporting would provide health care organizations with an incentive to quantify and reduce their environmental impact, reduce operating costs, and enhance protection of human health.
This commentary links the climate crisis with the pandemic in how both are the subject of campaigns to doubt the science. The authors discuss how clinicians have a clear role to play in countering misinformation.
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Climate change is an urgent challenge amplified by socioeconomic factors that demands thoughtful public health responses from OEM professionals. This guidance statement from the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine focuses on the different strategies that these health professionals can implement to protect workers from health impacts associated with climate change hazards, foster workplace resilience in the face of rapidly changing environments, and take the necessary steps to mitigate the effects of global climate change.
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