Abstract
Sustainability practices by large corporations are increasingly important to reduce the environmental and social impacts of the business enterprise. The health care industry represents 18% of the US economy, employs more people than any other economic sector, and is responsible for 10% of US carbon emissions. The engagement of large health care delivery organizations in reporting sustainability efforts has not been previously assessed. To evaluate sustainability reporting by large US health care delivery organizations compared with reporting trends in all other economic sectors. Cohort study of 49 large health care organizations (HCOs) by inclusion on one of the following lists in 2015 or 2016: Fortune 500, S&P (Standard & Poor) 500, Forbes 100 Largest Charities, Becker's Hospital Review of largest HCOs, and 24/7 Wall St's largest state employers. Each HCO was analyzed for sustainability reporting by reviewing the main corporate website, Google search, and search of publicly available databases. The percentage of sustainability reporting by HCOs on each list was compared with the percentage of sustainability reporting by all corporations on each list as obtained from public reports and publicly available databases. Data analysis was conducted in January 2018. The percentages of large health care corporations and other corporations publicly reporting sustainability information. Forty-nine large for-profit and nonprofit US HCOs were analyzed (10 appeared on >1 list but were analyzed only once) appearing on the Fortune 500 (8 [16%]), S&P 500 (3 [6%]), Forbes 100 Largest Charities (8 [16%]), largest state employers (14 [29%]), largest for-profit HCOs (11 [22%]), and largest nonprofit HCOs (17 [35%]) by facilities owned for sustainability reporting. Among them, 4 of 8 (50%) on the Fortune 500, 1 of 3 (33%) on the S&P 500, and 6 of all 49 health care corporations (12%) published a sustainability report compared with 389 of 500 (78%) on the Fortune 500 and 410 of 500 (82%) on the S&P 500 reporting by all economic sectors. The health care delivery sector lags behind other US economic sectors in sustainability reporting. Publicly reporting sustainability activities would provide HCOs with an incentive to quantify and reduce their environmental impacts, lower costs, and protect human health.
Highlights
Over the past 2 decades many large corporations have begun to acknowledge that they must hold themselves responsible and take measures to reduce the environmental degradation, pollution, climate change, and social disruption that results from their activities
Forty-nine large for-profit and nonprofit US health care organization (HCO) were analyzed (10 appeared on >1 list but were analyzed only once) appearing on the Fortune 500 (8 [16%]), Standard & Poor (S&P) 500 (3 [6%]), Forbes 100 Largest Charities (8 [16%]), largest state employers (14 [29%]), largest for-profit HCOs (11 [22%]), and largest nonprofit HCOs (17 [35%]) by facilities owned for sustainability reporting
Mention of sustainability terms were found on the main corporate website for health care corporations as follows: 2 of 8 (25%) on the Fortune 500; 1 of 3 (33%) on the S&P 500; 5 of 14 (36%) of the largest state employers; 1 of 11 (9%) of the largest for-profit HCOs; and 5 of 17 (29%) of the largest nonprofit
Summary
Over the past 2 decades many large corporations have begun to acknowledge that they must hold themselves responsible and take measures to reduce the environmental degradation, pollution, climate change, and social disruption that results from their activities. Referred to in the business world as corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting, these efforts are known as sustainability reporting, nonfinancial reporting, integrated reporting, corporate citizenship reporting, triple bottom line reporting, and environmental, social, and governance reporting These reports began as a platform to highlight corporate philanthropy but have evolved to include corporate performance on environmental measures (waste, water, and pollution) and on social impacts such as workforce well-being, diversity and equality practices, labor and management relations, human rights, and effects on local communities throughout the supply chain. In 2017, 70% of S&P 500 companies voluntarily reported their carbon emissions to the Carbon Disclosure Project, a UK-based nongovernmental organization operating a global disclosure system to help companies, cities, and governments report on and manage their carbon emissions; to date, more than 6000 companies from around the world have disclosed their carbon emissions.[4]
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