The Collective Healthcare Action to Reduce MedTech Emissions (CHARME) collaborative launched last month with the goal of improving sustainability in the MedTech supply chain. Led by the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council in partnership with Kaiser Permanente and Vizient, this initiative hopes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions arising from the multi-billion dollar U.S. medical device and equipment supply chain. Currently, the MedTech supply chain accounts for 7% of US healthcare greenhouse gas emissions.
CHARME fills a critical gap in existing decarbonisation initiatives and has the potential to improve emission reductions in activities such as manufacturing and transportation practices across the MedTech supply chain. Organisations throughout the MedTech supply chain industry have expressed an intent to participate, including Advocate Health, Cardinal Health and Health Care Without Harm.
“We are thrilled to be collaborating with some of the most significant participants in the health care supply chain as we work to identify, test, refine and promote specific best practices to move markets toward reduced supply chain emissions,” says Kris Spriano, Interim CEO of the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council.
“As the largest nonprofit integrated health care provider in the US, with a mission of improving the health of the 68 million people who live in the communities we serve, Kaiser Permanente is committed to reducing our direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions,” says Steven Chyung, Senior Vice President and Chief Supply Chain and Procurement Executive at Kaiser Permanente. “Reducing the climate impact of the products we procure has a positive impact on both environmental and human health, which ultimately improves chronic conditions and creates more healthy years for our members and the communities we serve.”
The CHARME initiative will implement key findings from the white paper Catalyzing Collective Action to Decarbonize Healthcare Roadmap for Health Systems and MedTech Suppliers, which was published in 2023 by Kaiser Permanente, Health Care Without Harm, and Accenture with input from over 30 organisations. The participating health systems included hundreds of hospitals from across the country, and the suppliers included MedTech companies representing over $1tn in annual revenue.
This white paper laid out a 24-month roadmap for health systems, MedTech companies and other stakeholders to work collaboratively on four key decarbonisation levers: renewable energy, product innovation, product utilisation, and transportation and logistics. Through CHARME, industry leaders will work in alignment with this roadmap to make meaningful progress toward emission reduction goals.
“Vizient is honoured to serve as a co-chair in partnership with Kaiser Permanente for this important initiative focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions in healthcare,” says Simrit Sandhu, President of Spend Management at Vizient. “We look forward to collaborating with other industry leaders via CHARME to create a resilient, environmentally sustainable MedTech supply chain as well as identify strategies that may also be appropriate for other sectors to improve human and environmental health.”
For more information, visit www.sustainablepurchasing.org/charme.
Source: Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council
