Our blog wins a national award – again!

March 18th, 2015

We were thrilled last week to learn that for the second year in a row, our Hospital Report blog has won a national award for “Best Blog or Commentary” – and this time we won first place!

The award is from the Specialized Information Publishers Association. SIPA is the international trade association for publishers and media companies serving niche communities, including healthcare.

The most recent award was one of eight won by AHC Media, publisher of our blog. I won another first place award for a package of stories I edited for our Healthcare Risk Management publication on “CPR refusal highlights risk of overly strict policies.” Other awards went to our company’s Hospital Infection Control & Prevention; Pediatric Emergency Medicine Reports; Trauma Reports; Stroke Alert, Volume II: Prevention, Emergency Treatment, Rehabilitation; Primary Care Reports; and Emergency Medicine Reports.

Speaking of awards, two UCLA Health System hospitals have been recognized for the fourth year in a row for their environmental achievements. Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica have received 2014 Partner for Change awards from Practice Greenhealth, a nonprofit organization that works to increase healthcare efficiencies and environmental stewardship. The award recognizes facilities for continuously improving and expanding their programs to eliminate mercury, reduce waste, lower the toxicity of waste, and recycle. Facilities must have reduced regulated medical waste by at least 15%, must be recycling 15% of their total waste, must be working on mercury elimination, and must have developed other successful pollution-prevention programs.

Both hospitals also were presented with the Making Medicine Mercury-Free Award. Award criteria include mercury-free management and purchasing policies and staff education.

"We can’t properly heal patients when there are pollutants and chemicals present in the healthcare setting,” said Paul Watkins, chief administrative officer of UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica, and chair of the UCLA Health System’s sustainability committee. “Eliminating mercury in our daily work environment protects both our patients and staff."

AHC Media has covered environmental practices many times, including the cost-saving angle. In February, our Same-Day Surgery publication shared how healthcare facilities are saving up a million dollars annually with such practices. The package of stories also included simple measures, such as a hospital that saved $34,000 annually with inexpensive coffee pot timers. Another system simply added recycling containers and saved hundreds of thousands of dollars.

We love giving you practical information such as this that you can put to use immediately. You keep sharing your stories with us, and we’ll keep writing about them in our award-winning blogs and publications!