Catch up on the latest.

HUDSON, June 13, 2014 – Hudson Hospital & Clinic, a HealthPartners organization, has achieved high sustainability honors nationally, receiving two Environmental Excellence Awards from Practice Greenhealth. Hudson earned the Emerald Partner for Change Award - a competitive award recognizing health care facilities that have achieve improvements in their mercury elimination, waste reduction, recycling and source reduction programs – above and beyond the Partner for Change criteria; and the Circles of Excellence Award given to the top 10 applicants in a specific category – Hudson was recognized for the Food category.

HealthPartners achieved a total of seven Environmental Excellence Awards from Practice Greenhealth. Along with Hudson, Lakeview, Regions and Westfields Hospitals met high benchmarks in recycling, mercury reduction, pollution prevention and energy conservation.
Practice Greenhealth is the nation’s leading health care sustainability community that empowers its members to increase their efficiencies and environmental stewardship while improving patient safety and care.

All of the awards HealthPartners won are as follows:

• Partner for Change:  Lakeview Hospital and Westfields Hospital
  Award winners in this category have management support and infrastructure (commitment statement, steering committee, facility team, community engagement) and meet high benchmarks for recycling, mercury elimination and pollution prevention and sustainability programs.

• Emerald Partner for Change:  Hudson Hospital
  The Greenhealth Emerald Award is a very competitive award that recognizes health care facilities that have achieved improvements in their mercury elimination, waste reduction, recycling and source reduction programs – above and beyond the Partner for Change criteria.

• Making Medicine Mercury Free:  Westfields Hospital
  Award winners in this category have a mercury free commitment statement, an inventory of all mercury-containing items, and handling or clean-up procedures for mercury.

• Top 25 Environmental Excellence:  Regions Hospital
  The Top 25 Environmental Excellence Awards are new in 2014, and recognize health care facilities that exemplify environmental excellence and are setting the highest standards for environmental practices in health care. The 25 hospitals presented with Practice Greenhealth's highest honors vary greatly in size, but are all leading the country in healthcare sustainability and have the data and documentation to prove their success. These facilities have innovative programs and also show leadership in their local communities and in the health care sector.

• Circles of Excellence (given to top 10 applicants in a specific category):
  New this year, the Circles of Excellence recognize hospitals for outstanding performance in one specific topic area.
  • Greening the OR:  Regions Hospital
  • Food:  Hudson Hospital

In addition to meeting high benchmarks, organizations honored with awards must show leadership in the local community and the health care sector. “Our mission to improve the health of our members, patients and community is in direct alignment with our goals for sustainability,” said Dana Slade, Sustainability Manager, HealthPartners. “To be recognized nationally among other high-performing organizations is truly an honor, and an affirmation of the work our teams do every day.”

The Practice Greenhealth Environmental Excellence Awards were presented in Cleveland, Ohio, June 5 at the CleanMed Conference & Exposition, the premier national environmental conference for leaders in health care sustainability.

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About Hudson Hospital & Clinic
Hudson Hospital & Clinic is part of the HealthPartners family of care, located off of I-94 in Hudson, WI and serves western Wisconsin communities with an emergency center, birth center, rehabilitation center, imaging center, specialty clinics, cancer care, heart care, and orthopaedics.  Hudson Hospital & Clinic has served the community for 60 years and is recognized for a healing environment, nationally acclaimed healing arts program, sustainability efforts and key quality measures. For more information visit www.hudsonhospital.org.

About HealthPartners
Founded in 1957, HealthPartners is the largest consumer-governed, non-profit health care organization in the nation. It is dedicated to improving health and well-being in partnership with members, patients and the community. HealthPartners provides a full-range of health plan services including insurance, administration and health and well-being programs. It serves more than 1.4 million medical and dental health plan members nationwide, and is the top-ranked commercial plan in Minnesota. Its Medicare plan has the highest rating (five stars), which only 11 plans in the nation achieved in 2013. Since its combination with Park Nicollet in 2013, its care system includes more than 1,700 physicians; six hospitals; 52 primary care clinics; 22 urgent care locations; and numerous specialty practices in Minnesota and western Wisconsin. In addition, Stillwater Medical Group, part of the HealthPartners family of care, includes 80 physicians serving the St. Croix Valley region. HealthPartners Dental Group has more than 60 dentists and 21 dental clinics. HealthPartners also provides medical education and conducts research through its Institute of Education and Research.

About Practice Greenhealth
Practice Greenhealth is the nation’s leading membership and networking organization for institutions in the health care community that have made a commitment to sustainable, eco-friendly practices. For more information on Practice Greenhealth, visit www.practicegreenhealth.org.