Many hospitals are facing economic challenges in today’s post-COVID era as revenues and reimbursements haven’t kept pace with the rapidly escalating costs of wages, inflation, drugs and supplies.
To achieve financial viability without reducing services, many healthcare systems are exploring how to lower operating costs by leveraging tax credits and other fiscal incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Noel Lafayette, Director of Energy and Sustainability at Pixel Health, shared his insights on helping healthcare organizations measure their carbon footprint with nZero and fully leveraging their return on investment (ROI) in today’s economy.
Recognizing the benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)
“The IRA reconciliation package offers many significant benefits for healthcare facilities as they retrofit and upgrade their facilities to reduce energy consumption,” said Noel.
“Hospitals facing financial losses should take advantage of clean energy tax credits and climate provisions to not only reduce their greenhouse gas emissions but also reduce costs and increase their energy efficiencies—without spending any money.”
Securing funding to develop a carbon reduction strategy
Noel explained that renewable energy investments can be cash flow positive from the start of a project by taking advantage of rebates, subsidies, tax credits, accelerated depreciation and third-party financing.
“An experienced partner can help healthcare facility decision makers navigate the plethora of IRA financial provisions and demystify the most recent regulations,” added Noel. “Healthcare organizations can then select the most cost-effective options—usually no- or low-cost—to get their energy savings programs fully financed while also looking ahead to proactively control long-term energy rates.”
Creating a data-driven carbon reduction roadmap with nZero
Once the funding sources and financial incentives are identified, the focus turns to evaluating an organization’s current carbon footprint to help inform critical decisions on infrastructure investments and set realistic reduction targets.
“Our approach at Pixel Health begins with gathering and calculating an organization’s carbon footprint with nZero, the industry’s premier carbon accounting software,” said Noel. “After analyzing a customer’s current power consumption and near real-time emissions from the nZero platform, we then create a custom roadmap that takes advantage of onsite renewable credits in the IRA.”
While many organizations share similar sustainability goals, Noel stressed that each hospital and healthcare organization has unique technology needs, clinical processes, and business operations that must be considered when designing and executing a sustainability strategy.
“Our team understands the operational challenges faced when driving change in health systems,” said Noel. “That’s why we work closely with our in-house clinicians and healthcare strategists to ensure that we’re significantly reducing energy costs and carbon consumption without impacting existing operations.”
Get in touch to identify the most cost-effective renewable energy investments for your organization.