Pennsylvania Code
Pennsylvania Code & Bulletin
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA

• No statutes or acts will be found at this website.

The Pennsylvania Bulletin website includes the following: Rulemakings by State agencies; Proposed Rulemakings by State agencies; State agency notices; the Governor’s Proclamations and Executive Orders; Actions by the General Assembly; and Statewide and local court rules.

PA Bulletin, Doc. No. 22-1301

NOTICES

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

Adoption of the 2022 Editions of the Guidelines for Design and Construction of Hospitals and Guidelines for Design and Construction of Outpatient Facilities

[52 Pa.B. 5570]
[Saturday, August 27, 2022]

 Under the authority of the Health Care Facilities Act (act) (35 P.S. §§ 448.101—448.904b) and the hospital and ambulatory surgical facility regulations promulgated under the act, the Department of Health (Department) adopts the 2022 edition of the Guidelines for Design and Construction of Hospitals and Guidelines for Design and Construction of Outpatient Facilities (Guidelines), effective February 1, 2023. As of February 1, 2023, the Department will apply the 2022 Guidelines to all plans for new construction, alterations or renovations of hospitals and ambulatory surgical facilities.

 The Department currently applies the 2018 edition of the Guidelines for all new construction, alterations or renovations of hospitals and ambulatory surgical facilities. The 2018 edition of the Guidelines will continue to be applied through February 1, 2023, unless a hospital or ambulatory surgical facility elects to use the 2022 Guidelines as set forth as follows.

 While the mandatory usage of the new Guidelines will not occur until February 1, 2023, the Department has received inquiries regarding whether hospitals and ambulatory surgical facilities may use the 2022 Guidelines before that date. The Department will permit hospitals and ambulatory surgical facilities to use the 2022 Guidelines starting August 1, 2022. Thus, from August 1, 2022, until January 31, 2023, hospitals and ambulatory surgical facilities may elect to use either the 2018 Guidelines or the 2022 Guidelines, but after February 1, 2023, hospitals and ambulatory surgical facilities must use the 2022 Guidelines.

 The Department recommends that smaller renovation projects or new additions be designed and submitted for approval based on compliance with the 2018 edition of the Guidelines as soon as possible after August 1, 2022. Although it is still permissible to utilize the 2018 edition until February 1, 2023, it would be prudent to utilize the 2022 edition. Larger or more complicated projects should be designed in conformance with the 2022 Guidelines, however, final plan approvals issued after February 1, 2023, will be based upon conformance with the 2022 edition of the Guidelines, regardless of when the preliminary plans were submitted.

 The established procedure requires the submission of construction plans and the issuance of a final construction plan approval by the Division of Safety Inspection (DSI) prior to the start of any new construction, renovation, alteration or changes in usage. Blueprints are to be submitted to the DSI and are reviewed for compliance with the NFPA 101, Life Safety Code and the requirements as set forth in the Guidelines. The plan approval function is a requirement to ensure that new construction, alterations and renovations comply with applicable regulations to avoid building noncompliant conditions into hospitals or ambulatory surgical buildings, which would necessitate costly remedial work to correct prior to the Department allowing the renovated area to be occupied.

 After construction has been completed, a final inspection must be conducted for Life Safety Code requirements by the DSI and for State Licensure or Federal Certification, or both, requirements by the Division of Acute and Ambulatory Care.

 Persons interested in purchasing a copy of the 2022 edition of the Guidelines for Design and Construction of Hospitals or Guidelines for Design and Construction of Outpatient Facilities, or both, may contact the Facility Guidelines Institute at info@fgiguidelines.org, https://fgiguidelines.org/.

 Questions regarding this notice should be directed to Charles A. Schlegel, Director, Division of Safety Inspection at (717) 787-1911. Persons with a disability who require an alternative format of this document should contact V/TT (717) 783-6514. Speech and/or hearing impaired persons may call the Pennsylvania Hamilton Relay Service at (800) 654-5984 (TT).

DR. DENISE A. JOHNSON, 
Acting Secretary

[Pa.B. Doc. No. 22-1301. Filed for public inspection August 26, 2022, 9:00 a.m.]


No part of the information on this site may be reproduced for profit or sold for profit.

This material has been drawn directly from the official Pennsylvania Bulletin full text database. Due to the limitations of HTML or differences in display capabilities of different browsers, this version may differ slightly from the official printed version.