University of Michigan Health named a ‘top hospital’ in the country for excellence in environmental sustainability

Environmental sustainability is an important part of University of Michigan Health’s healing and service mission. The organization’s robust sustainability leadership and initiatives have garnered national recognition from Practice Greenhealth, the nation’s leading enterprise dedicated to reducing global warming and the carbon footprint associated with health care practices. 

This year, U-M Health has been named one of the top 25 hospitals and health systems in the country by Practice Greenhealth for excellence in environmental sustainability.

Based on a rigorous scoring system, the ‘Top 25 Award’ honors success and performance in a range of environmental sustainability programs, which include topics like leadership, waste, chemicals, greening the operating room, food, sustainable procurement, energy, water, climate, transportation and green building. 

“As Practice Greenhealth’s highest honor, this award recognizes the best of the best in health care environmental sustainability, and I am tremendously proud of our team members who helped make this happen,” said Chip Amoe, J.D., M.P.A., U-M Health Sustainability Officer. 

“We don’t do this work to win awards, we do it because improving the environments where people live, work and play is essential to improving the health of the patients, employees and communities we serve. However, receiving the top award bestowed by the country’s leading health care sustainability organization is wonderful validation that we continue to be on the right track at U-M Health with our sustainability efforts.”   

In addition, U-M Health also achieved a new system record of receiving four Circle of Excellence Awards, which honor the 10 highest-performing hospitals and systems in each of 11 sustainability impact categories. This recognition includes one new award in the following categories:

• Circle of Excellence - Leadership
• Circle of Excellence – Greening the OR
• Circle of Excellence – Food (New)
• Circle of Excellence – Energy

To be recognized in the Circles of Excellence, winners must achieve ‘Greenhealth Partner for Change Award’ status and demonstrate outstanding performance and leadership through advanced actions in that sustainability impact area. 

“Since 2002, U-M Health has submitted applications and received annual awards for our sustainability efforts, as well as improving the health of communities around us and reducing our collective impact on global warming,” said Tony Denton, J.D., M.H.A., senior vice president and chief environmental, social and governance officer for U-M Health-Michigan Medicine. “In recent years, our awards have progressed in recognition of specific team initiatives to reduce wastes, recycle and reuse materials, reduce energy consumption, and change products and processes which integrate sustainability into our daily operations,” 

“These new honors wouldn’t be possible without the long-term and shared commitment from our entire team to see environmental sustainability as part of our mission to improve the health of the patients, communities and planet we are privileged to serve. We’re grateful to all who are committed to this intentional and meaningful work, while inspiring innovation, ingenuity and adaptability to help us reduce our carbon footprint now and into the future, undoubtedly serving communities and generations to come.” 

More information about this year’s Practice Greenhealth award recipients can be found here. 

About Practice Greenhealth

Practice Greenhealth is the leading membership and networking organization for sustainable health care, delivering environmental solutions to more than 1,700 U.S. hospitals and health systems. Learn more at practicegreenhealth.org.

About Michigan Medicine and University of Michigan Health

At Michigan Medicine, we advance health to serve Michigan and the world. We pursue excellence every day in our 11 hospitals and hundreds of clinics statewide, as well as educate the next generation of physicians, health professionals and scientists in our U-M Medical School. 

Michigan Medicine includes U-M Medical School and University of Michigan Health, which includes the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital, University Hospital, the Frankel Cardiovascular Center, Kellogg Eye Center, University of Michigan Health-West, University of Michigan Health-Sparrow and the Rogel Cancer Center. The U-M Medical School is one of the nation's biomedical research powerhouses, with total research awards of more than $777 million. 

More information is available at www.michiganmedicine.org.