The challenging feedback loop of unsustainability in the healthcare industry

“First, do no harm.”

You may know it as the title of a 1997 thriller starring Meryl Streep, but it’s more widely known as one of the central tenets of healthcare.

But according to a sustainability report from the Conference Board, a think tank that provides industry insights, the healthcare industry’s primary focus on saving lives may actually be damaging them—for patients and healthcare workers alike.

One of the reasons is the obvious side of unsustainability: the environmental consideration.

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the healthcare sector make up more than 8% of domestic GHG emissions; in comparison, the agricultural industry produced 10% of domestic GHG emissions in 2021, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Most of healthcare’s GHG emissions come from the process of procuring medical supplies for hospitals, such as gloves, uniforms, and pharmaceuticals.

“It’s everything that goes into providing medical care,” Paul Washington, executive director for the Conference Board’s environmental, social, and governance center, told Healthcare Brew. “How were they sourced? What’s the impact on the environment?”

Actively addressing sustainability can improve everything from GHG emissions to cost savings, according to the report. For example, since taking on more than 50 projects to improve energy efficiency in 2011, Boston Medical Center has reduced its carbon emissions by 91% and lowered its annual operation costs by $40 million, per the report.

Washington says that sustainability isn’t just about environmental responsibilities—it’s also about financial stability, social missions, and operating performance. According to Washington, a sustainable company is one that “serves the long-term interests of all of its stakeholders, its investors, its employees, its customers, its business partners, and its communities.”

Strong healthcare boards are “critical” to advancing sustainability, Washington and the Conference Board report authors emphasized. According to the report, healthcare boards “lag other industry sectors” in governance experience, director education, and board refreshment, meaning many boards lack diverse and fresh perspectives.

“If you need to address environmental issues, the board has to know something about it. No, you don’t have to be experts, but you have to have a degree of fluency. And the only way you get fluency is through education,” Washington said. “And that’s a place where healthcare company boards lag.”

Last but not least, the Conference Board advises healthcare providers to partner with “key players” such as governmental organizations, insurance companies, and pharmaceutical firms to increase support for their sustainability missions.

“[Healthcare providers] are understandably wired to be focused on their mission of […] human health,” Washington said. “And so anything that seems to take away attention or resources from that immediate goal can be met with resistance.”