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In a recent article for GreenBiz.com titled, “Inside the effort to strip toxics from U.S. hospitals,” Kristine Wong explains the development and implementation of the agreement between five HSCA member GPOs—Amerinet, HealthTrust, MedAssets, Novation, and Premier—to work together on a standardized list of questions for suppliers regarding “their products’ impact on humans and the environment.”
Since purchases by these five GPOs account for 90% of all GPO purchases, these standardized questions could have a major impact on the greening of the healthcare supply chain. HSCA President Curtis Rooney stated, “The driving force was simply an awareness by the GPOs that their customers -- the hospitals -- were interested in this area [of sustainable health care].”
Beth Eckl of Practice Greenhealth, a nonprofit organization of more than 1,200 health care organizations (including hospitals and HSCA member GPOs) aimed at embedding sustainable practices in the health care industry, noted, “These GPOs put competition aside to show that they are committed to sustainability.”
In a recent Inside HSCA blog post, we discussed the connection between this initiative and the recent White House event on sustainable health care. For more information, click here.