Article in the NYTimes

Interesting Article in yesterdays NY Times Magazine:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/magazine/20Build-text.html?ex=120...

Just thought you might be interested in the work we are doing at Boulder Community Hospital.

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jennifer Blair on April 22, 2008 at 8:40pm: Hello Kai,
I loved reading this article about what you’re accomplishing at the Boulder Community Hospital.
Can I ask why Recycling confidential documents instead of shredding them has cut costs by $90,000?
What is the difference? Is Data control document destruction more exspensive?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kai Abelkis on April 23, 2008 at 9:24am: Hello,
Yes, to have a third party shred your documents is expensive. Most companies charge by the pound - needless to say - confidential bins get more then confidential material. So you pay a lot to shred stuff like magazines, pizza boxes, and other non-confidential paper.

Kai; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jennifer Blair on April 23, 2008 at 9:29am: Good Morning Kai,
So how do you protect the confidential materials you are recycling? Are you cutting out the third party?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kai Abelkis on April 23, 2008 at 9:46am: We evaluated our recycling program from collection to recycling. There are 5 entities that "touch" our product. Each location is off limit to the general public, have their own policy regarding confidentiality, and for the most part are truly automated (no human sorting). BCH collects the paper with locked containers, Ecocycle picks up paper in a closed truck, sorted to Wehrhauser in Denver, baled by machine and placed in RR cart, locked, sent off to a recycling mill in AZ, placed in a soup to de-ink, info is gone and the material is made into something else. Is it perfect, no, but it is as secure as you can get and all we are asked to do is ensure due diligence in securing information. This, my understanding, is a legal term that requires that you do everything you can to secure the info. There is no guidelines as to how to actually secure info - it is left to each hospital to determine those issues.

Kai; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jennifer Blair on April 23, 2008 at 10:04am: Thank you for the details Kai. You bring up a good point that 3rd party shred is expensive and I didn't realize these alternatives existed.

Congrats on eliminating the blue wrap. Do you feel your hospital, being the first LEED-certified green hospital, is on the cutting edge? Your team is unquestionably teaching us what is possible.; ▶ Reply to This