Issue 6 | 2023 PUB_SCO Spring 2023_Digital | Page 8

Why health systems care about ESG :
1 . They believe they should play a role in creating a more ethical world .
2 . They ’ re mission-driven organizations that want to address the social determinants of health .
3 . They understand the relationship between the patient populations they serve and issues like climate change , DEI and supplier diversity .
4 . They understand the business benefits of ESG .
zhuweiyi49 / DigitalVision Vectors via Getty Images
from suppliers on everything from environmental sustainability to ethical sourcing to diversity , equity and inclusion ( DEI ).
Health systems are paying more attention to the healthcare supply chain to ensure ethically sourced products . They want safe , sustainable products produced by people who are treated well . For them , a leading ESG priority is respecting human rights throughout the supply chain and avoiding the use of forced labor . They do not support poor working conditions for ethical reasons . Additionally , they don ’ t want
those conditions to lead to poor products that can harm patients or residents .
Recently , Practice Greenhealth , the leading healthcare member organization in the U . S ., and Medline partnered to conduct a comprehensive assessment of health systems 1 . They surveyed decision makers at 46 organizations on the extent to which ESG is incorporated into healthcare purchasing decisions . Additionally , they reviewed recent requests for information to assess the number and nature of ESGrelated requests .
The results confirm that ESG is a driving force in purchasing decisions .
• 46 % said that supplier responses to ESG topics impact vendor selection .
• At least 50 % said goals for greenhouse gas ( GHG ) emissions , DEI , supplier diversity and product safety were a factor .
• 61 % incorporated supplier ESG responses into scoring criteria .
• The top five ESG topics in supplier questions are : supplier diversity ( 63 %),
medline . com / supply-chain / sco-magazine / 5