As part of HAN member Boston Medical Center’s (BMC) Clean Power Prescription program, BMC will use energy credits generated from a new solar array on its administrative building to help reduce patients’ electric bills. BMC was able to make this happen through the federal Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which offers subsidies for more than half the cost of installation of new projects if at least half the power from it were donated to low-income people.
From the Boston Globe article:
“For many of these patients, I ended up referring them to psychotherapy to deal with the chronic stress of living in poverty,” [Dr. Anna Goldman, a primary care physician at BMC] said. “But that feels really incomplete. Like, let’s help you with these hard feelings you’re having from living in poverty. It feels so much more complete to be able to say and let’s help address the underlying causes of your poverty.”
See also: Practice Greenhealth’s Guide details how health systems can utilize IRA incentives to advance climate- and equity-related work, such as through tax credits and elective pay options that encourage health care organizations to decarbonize.