Sec. 401. Office of Sustainability and Environmental Impact
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There is hereby established in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services an Office of Sustainability and Environmental Impact (in this section referred to as the Office ) to prepare the health care system for the impacts of climate change by supporting health care decarbonization, sustainability, and environmental efforts and to ensure that the health care system minimizes and mitigates its climate harm while advancing patient health and safety. The Office shall— collaborate with the Office of Climate Change and Health Equity, the Environmental Protection Agency, and other interagency committees to support a whole-of-government and whole-of-health approach to addressing the climate crisis; develop and promulgate regulations that support climate-informed care, support health care decarbonization and sustainability, and mitigate the environmental impacts of the health care system upon patients, communities, and health care workers; develop and promulgate regulations that support patient access to, and coverage of, climate-informed health care services to prevent and address the health impacts of climate change; conduct oversight of health care systems, their climate emissions, and environmental harms and provide interagency technical assistance in remediating such emissions and environmental harms; and issue Climate-Friendly health system designations and accreditations that identify health systems that demonstrate commitment to, and substantial evidence of, reducing emissions and environmental harm while advancing health care quality and patient and worker safety.
The Office shall be headed by a Director, to be known as the Director of Sustainability and Environmental Impact, who shall be appointed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (in this section referred to as the Secretary ). The Director shall— convene stakeholders (including key health care stakeholders) for strategic planning towards the priority goals of the Office; advise the Secretary and the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in matters of sustainability and environmental impact and the role of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in sustainability and environmental impact; collaborate with academic experts and community leaders to understand and establish best practices for decarbonizing health care operations; and develop and evaluate the Office's strategy to tackle health care decarbonization and sustainability and mitigating environmental impacts within the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, and every 2 years thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a Health Care Sustainability and Environmental Impact Report, which shall be prepared by the Director of Sustainability and Environmental Impact, with appropriate assistance from other agencies in the executive branch of the Federal Government. Each such report shall include the following: A summary of interagency collaboration. A methodology to designate and accredit health systems that achieve substantial reductions in emissions and environmental harm as Climate-Friendly health systems.
An inventory of Climate-Friendly designated health systems, their strategies, challenges, and best practices for sustainability and mitigating environmental impact, and any significant effects of these efforts on— quality of care; patient safety; safety of health care workers and health care facility workers; health care costs; and environmental health and overall health of the community served. An analysis of the demographics and climate vulnerability of patients and types of communities served by Climate-Friendly health systems.
Recommendations for actions by health systems and for Federal technical assistance and supportive resources for the health system to achieve substantial reductions in emissions and environmental harm in order to attain Climate-Friendly designation. A summary of oversight efforts of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services regarding emissions and environmental impacts and payment and coverage impacts on climate change preparedness, mitigation, and response. Recommendations for such legislation and administration action as the Secretary determines appropriate to regulate and promote health care sustainability, decarbonization, and mitigate environmental impact within the health care system.
There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $2,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2033.