Letter to The Joint Commission on Hospital Sustainability Standards

On March 22, The Joint Commission (TJC), the major accrediting body for hospitals and clinics, announced it was considering a set of required standards for sustainability as part of accreditation. A month later, after encountering pushback from senior administrators and industry, TJC softened its stance stating it would make sustainability “extra credit” even before the survey to collect feedback had closed.

In response, leaders of the state affiliate network for the Medical Society Consortium, including Healthy Climate Wisconsin and Michigan Clinicians for Climate Action, initiated and circulated a health professionals sign-on letter in conjunction with Health Care Without Harm. Within days, this letter had gathered over 750 signatures asking TJC to reconsider. Health professionals understand climate change to be a profound threat to our patient’s health and recognize that health care systems must be part of the solution. Read the letter and consider joining health care decarbonization efforts through our state clinician network by contacting info@ms2ch.org.