Environmentally Preferred Purchasing

Environmental Stewardship

Novation is committed to decreasing the environmental footprint of health care. As the nation’s leading contracting services company, it is positioned to drive large-scale changes in the purchases that VHA, UHC and Provista member organizations make, bringing green purchasing into new economies of scale.

Environmentally preferred purchasing can be achieved without sacrificing patient care, and Novation believes it can be an important step to improving patient care. Decreasing exposure to toxins, reducing the energy usage/carbon emissions of hospitals, and minimizing the amount of waste are all steps that provide a healthier environment for patients.

Leading by Example

As recipient of the Champion for Change Award for the past four years, Novation is recognized by Health Care Without Harm (formerly H2E) as being a positive contributor and environmental steward within the health care industry. The award recognizes Novation for its efforts at both the corporate and member levels.

Novation champions a corporate culture that encourages portfolio executives to ask deeper questions to assess each contract’s environmental impact during the contracting process. Offering ongoing education about environmental sustainability, adopting environmentally friendly corporate practices, and providing access to organizations like Health Care Without Harm to our contracting teams are just a few of the ways Novation exemplifies internally the changes it encourages externally.

Environmentally Preferred Product Contracting

Novation’s goal is to demonstrate how environmentally preferred purchasing benefits not only the environment and patient care, but also an organization’s bottom line.

Financial reasons for purchasing environmentally preferred products extend beyond the contracted pricing for those products. Energy efficiency and waste disposal are two significant factors that affect overall operating costs that are not usually accounted for during the evaluation of the initial purchase. Reducing costs through utilization of more energy-efficient products and decreasing disposal charges are examples of the long- term benefits that Novation helps members identify.

Novation’s approach to affect positive environmental change within health care is multifaceted. We strive to:

• increase the breadth and depth of Novation’s Environmentally Preferred Purchasing offering
• promote environmentally preferable purchasing decisions at member organizations
• encourage more environmentally preferable practices by awarded suppliers by asking them state the environmental impact and benefits of the products they manufacture.
• partner with leading advocates for environmental and sustainability changes within health care
• support the United Nations Global Compact
• continue to implement internal environmental and sustainability practices

Novation continues to increase the EPP options on contract to meet members’ growing demand for those products. Suppliers with environmentally preferred products should consult the Novation Bid/Proposal Calendar for upcoming bids and RFPs.