There has been a growing realization that where we live and work, how we live , and what we live in, may have profound implications on our health. In fact, the environment as broadly perceived is one of the major determinants of the health of individuals and communities. In recent years, there has been a movement to build "greener" as scientists, public health officers, business, and some members of the public see a linkage between our built environment and health. Green buildings are when all of the materials and systems are designed with an emphasis on their integration into a whole, for the purpose of minimizing their impacts on the occupants (Indoor Environmental Quality) and on the globe This includes such issues as building sites, materials selection, energy efficiency, water conservation, construction waste management, indoor air quality, etc. Green building may be particularly relevant for health care facilities - they are the site of preventive medicine and delivery of medical care, a healthy built environment may benefit staff, patients, and communities; and the delivery of health care is one of the largest growing sectors of our economy. However, despite the fact that green buildings are gaining traction in the building industry in general, to date only a limited number of health care facilities are built green. This may be due to economic models that favor building traditional buildings or because of the paucity of data on the impact of building design on human health.
This workshop, one in a series of workshops sponsored by the Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine, continued the work of previous workshops to better understand environmental impacts on individual and societal health. Through examination of case studies and current research from the environment, social, health, and economic sciences, Roundtable members and other workshop participants looked at the case for and implications of "green" health care facilities, by examining the present state of knowledge, identifying research gaps, and discussing the barriers to institutional change.