Advocate Health Care of Chicago; Beaumont Health System of Troy, Mich.; New Jersey’s Hackensack University Medical Center; and University Hospitals in Cleveland — which together represent roughly 7,000 patient beds — announced in September that they will no longer purchase flame-retardant-treated furnishings. Each health care system will specify with their suppliers that upholstered furniture should not contain flame-retardant chemicals where code permits. These four providers, along with Kaiser Permanente, which made a similar commitment in June 2014, spend an estimated $50 million annually on facility furnishings.

The health care systems noted in a statement that commonly used flame retardants can pose reproductive, neurocognitive and immune system threats to human health, among others, and are damaging to the environment. The statement added that safety data on newer flame retardants are still emerging and are often incomplete.

The four health systems are also among the more than 1,100 across the country that have enrolled in the Healthier Hospitals Initiative (HHI), a campaign to improve environmental health and sustainability in the health care sector. The initiative challenges hospitals to green operations in several key areas, including reducing the use of hazardous, flame-retardant chemicals.

"Through our purchasing and operating practices, we at University Hospitals believe we can help to promote the development of safer chemicals and more sustainable materials for use in health care and beyond, fostering a healthier environment for all," said Aparna Bole, MD, manager of sustainability, University Hospitals, and pediatrician at UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, in a statement. "We are proud to join Health Care Without Harm and other hospitals systems around the country in taking an important step toward this goal, by committing to purchase furniture free of flame retardant chemicals as our regulations and statutes allow."

"Hospitals take very seriously the links between chemicals in the environment and rising rates of disease," added Gary Cohen, president and founder of Health Care Without Harm and the Healthier Hospitals Initiative, in a statement. "They are committed to creating healing environments, free from products containing chemicals linked to chronic diseases."

This move is also supported by a new California flammability standard that allows furniture manufacturers to meet the standard without the addition of hazardous flame-retardant chemicals. This standards shift, along with the prevalence of automatic sprinkler systems and indoor smoking bans, could also have an impact on the national furnishings market.

"Demand from these health systems will drive the production of furniture that does not include toxic, flame-retardant chemicals," Cohen said. "Because the health care sector is such a large part of the economy, hospitals can help shift the entire marketplace, which will benefit public health and make products safer for all consumers."

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“Hospitals nationwide are transforming their purchasing practices to avoid toxic chemicals, buy healthier food and beverages, and become energy efficient and less wasteful,” said Gary Cohen, founder of HHI, in a statement. “This report shows that clear trends have emerged and innovative hospitals are implementing strategies to reduce costs, improve their environmental performance and support broader environmental health goals.”

More hospitals are committing to reducing diet-related diseases such as diabetes, the report states. More than 630 hospitals responded to questions related to sustainability efforts. The study found these hospitals spend more than 15 percent of their food budget on local and sustainable food, with an average of $23.7 million spent in 2013. That’s an increase of 350 percent versus the previous year.

More hospitals report that they are also not buying as much sugar-sweetened beverages. All told, nearly $42 million was spent on healthy beverages, which made up 77 percent of total spending.

What’s more, the percentage of hospitals purchasing PVC/DEHP-free products went up by 60 percent. Hospitals are also demanding that upholstered furniture not contain toxic flame retardants or other unsafe chemicals. Almost $700,000 was spent on compound-free furnishings in 2013.

One of the most significant efforts toward sustainability was reprocessing medical devices. When these devices were reused, the hospitals saved more than $45 million, a 33 percent increase over 2012.

“This report shows that we have made significant progress, but our work is not done,” said John Messervy, AIA, chair of the Healthier Hospitals Initiative and director of capital and facility planning for Partners HealthCare, in a statement. “As we move into the third year of the initiative, we will continue encouraging hospitals to purchase more environmentally preferable supplies, serve healthier foods, use less energy and reduce waste.”

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