Environmental purchasing can help manage your waste line

B. Braun Medical Inc. represents one of a growing number of healthcare product suppliers advocating an environmental maturity designed to improve patient care quality as well as financial results.

Eric Steen

Healthcare Purchasing News Senior Editor Rick Dana Barlow reached out to Eric Steen, B. Braun’s senior vice president and Chief Marketing Officer, and president of CAPS (Central Admixture Pharmacy Services), to glean his impressions of green purchasing and the current trends in waste management.

B. Braun has manufactured environmentally responsible products for more than 30 years, beginning with the introduction of the first PVC-free and DEHP-free IV containers. The use of environmentally responsible products was slower to gain momentum in the United States than in other countries, but B. Braun stayed the course. That’s because manufacturing environmentally responsible products is more than a marketing strategy to us. It’s a core corporate value. It’s also good business. There’s growing demand for these products and we’re able to help our customers provide safe, quality care, achieve their own environmental objectives and differentiate themselves from other healthcare providers.

Now that concerns about the environment have led consumers and businesses to carefully evaluate products and manufacturers on an environmental basis, B. Braun finds itself in a great position. The pressure of the green movement combined with continued reports about the harmful effects of PVC and DEHP on patients and the environment have brought customers to a kind of tipping point where conversion to non-PVC IV therapy is now commonplace.

B. Braun currently offers the industry’s largest line of green products, including a portfolio of PVC-free, DEHP-free and Latex-free products. We continue to seek ways to expand that green portfolio because we expect demand to continue to grow and because it keeps faith with our corporate values and commitment to sustainability.

I believe many healthcare facilities have found the reusable vs. disposable debate more complicated than it might initially seem, especially if they measure the effect on the environment from steps required to bring products back to the reusable state. B. Braun’s strategy has been different. We recognize that some of our products simply cannot and will not be able to be reused for any variety of reasons, including contamination.

So B. Braun has focused on manufacturing products that are safe for patients and easier on the environment when they’re disposed and to work with customers on helping them achieve environmental objectives. As part of that effort, we developed a calculator that demonstrates the cost and environmental savings of B. Braun products over competitors. One key to fostering the adoption of green products by healthcare facilities, especially today when they’re facing such financial pressures, is the ability to show cost-effectiveness in all solutions, including those associated with environmental responsibility.

B. Braun’s green products and approaches don’t cost more. In fact, they’re cost-effective for our customers. So it’s only natural that they would grow in popularity during these tough economic times. Customers find that purchasing B. Braun’s eco-friendly products reduce their waste disposal costs, provide increased patient safety, and help them achieve environmental goals and afford them the opportunity to promote themselves as environmentally responsible organizations. Those are powerful incentives.

There is no up-front cost for converting to B. Braun’s green products. That means healthcare facilities can easily launch a green initiative and start saving money right away. One impediment to more universal adoption of green products is the fact that while hospitals don’t want to have large carbon footprints, they have to weigh patient care, risk and liability issues in their purchasing decisions. B. Braun’s approach is to provide products that allow facilities to embrace green initiatives, continue to deliver the highest level of patient care and safety, and keep risk low to the clinician practitioners.

Using B. Braun’s PVC-free and DEHP-free products helps customers reduce costs, particularly those associated with landfill disposal. In addition, with B. Braun’s new ‘OptimizIV’ harmonization program, we help customers use fewer IV sets. This might seem counterintuitive, since most medical manufacturers want to sell more plastic parts and pieces. But, by using this approach, B. Braun earns their business by saving them money, reducing inventory, and reducing IV set usage through standardization.

Catholic Healthcare West (CHW) converted all 42 of its hospital campuses to B. Braun’s PVC-free, DEHP-free products to significantly reduce its environmental impact, while enhancing patient safety. Over a five-year period, CHW will:

• Remove 1,896,509 pounds of PVC material from IV containers

• Reduce landfill waste by 557,434 pounds

• Eliminate 477,989 pounds of HCl (Hydrogen Chloride) that would have entered the environment had that material been incinerated