After succeeding in getting more hospitals involved in reducing their carbon footprint, the Healthy Hospitals Initiative will remain a Practice Greenhealth program, according to an article on the Hospitals & Health Networks.

In its third and final year, the initiative receiving data from 970 hospitals, a 52 percent increase from the second year, and nearly triple its first year participation.

"It shows a large segment of the healthcare sector can adopt sustainability measures and together we can have a huge impact on transforming practices," Jeff Brown, executive director of the supporting organization, Practice Greenhealth, said in the article.

Participating hospitals reported they eliminated 73,600 metric tons of greenhouse gases through energy reduction, which is the same as taking 15,600 cars off the road annually. Since 2010, 457 hospitals diverted 446 thousand tons of materials from landfills, achieving a recycling rate of 24 percent, the article said.

Read the article.