The nonprofit membership and networking organization for sustainable health care, Practice Greenhealth, recently introduced its Greenhealth Cost of Ownership (GCO) Calculator, which hopes to help hospitals identify environmentally-friendly products that are green and cost-effective.
The GCO Calculator allows hospitals and health systems to analyze the hidden costs of products and devices beyond the initial list price, such as water, maintenance, energy and waste disposal costs. The initial cost of green products can seem unknown and unpredictable compared to staying with the status quo, and this is why determining the total cost of ownership can lead to strategic purchasing decisions that are good for the environment, good for patients and staff, and good for the bottom line, claims the group.
Hospitals have the second-largest energy footprint of all sectors, generating 5.9 million tons of waste annually. The tool hopes to inspire a shift in the direction of purchasing decisions by providing meaningful data that allows hospitals to assess whether investing more upfront in green products can reduce expenditures in the long term.
You can learn more about the tool and download it for your own use by visiting the website here.
