VHA Inc. Announces Winners of 2014 Excellence Awards for Sustainability

IRVING, Texas, April 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- VHA Inc., the national healthcare network, today announced the presentation of its 2014 Excellence Awards for Sustainability to six member health care systems in two categories for their achievements over the course of 2013. The awards were presented on Sunday, April 27 during VHA's Navigating to Excellence Forum in Las Vegas.

VHA's annual member conference brings health care delivery experts and leading health care systems together to share best practices and learn about innovative solutions that can help improve clinical quality and performance. The event offers more than 35 educational sessions hosted by thought-leaders from health care systems and research and policy organizations throughout the country as well as several VHA experts.

VHA's Excellence Awards for Sustainability recognize member hospitals who demonstrated focus and commitment to sustainability practices through the implementation of a new program with measurable success.

The winners for "Best in Class—Comprehensive Program" were:

• NorthShore University Health System in Evanston, IL
• Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids, MI
• West Kendall Baptist Hospital in Miami, FL
• Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, CT

The winners for "Innovation and Impact—Specific Project" were:

• Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids, MI
• ThedaCare in Appleton, WI

"The winners of the sustainability award have made the connection between core sustainability concepts and are now modeling innovative programs that engage all levels of the organization to reduce waste and decrease the hospital's environmental impact," said Colleen Risk, VHA executive vice president, member networks and human resources. "VHA believes that a focus on environmental stewardship is important for health care systems and the communities they serve. By recognizing institutions for their commitment and achievements in sustainability, we hope that other health systems will consider applying these leading practices to their own organizations."

About VHA
VHA Inc. is a national network of not-for-profit health care organizations working together to improve performance and efficiency in clinical, financial and operational management. Since 1977, when VHA established the first hospital membership organization, the company has applied its knowledge in analytics, contracting, consulting and network development to help members and customers achieve their strategic objectives. In 2012, VHA delivered $1.9 billion in savings and additional value to members. Serving 5,100 health system members and affiliates, VHA represents more than a quarter of the nation's hospitals. VHA also serves more than 118,000 non-acute health care customers enterprise-wide. VHA is based in Irving, Texas, and has 12 regional offices across the U.S. VHA, together with UHC, owns Novation, a supply chain company, and its subsidiary aptitude^TM , the health care industry's first online direct market for contracting. VHA also owns Provista, a supply chain company serving the non-acute market as well as hospitality, education, corporate and government markets. For more information, visit www.vha.com and follow us on Twitter (@VHAInc).

Contact: David Matthews
VP of Public Relations
VHA, Inc.
[email protected]
972.830.2901

SOURCE VHA Inc.