Hospitals and Existing Conditions

The American with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990 and many of our hospitals were built or have buildings prior to that date.  The question is, are they Grandfathered?

First of all the ADA has no Grandfathering.  One is either in compliance or not in compliance.  Buildings prior to 1990 were required to audit their facilities and come up with a plan to get them ADA compliant.  In the real world, this was not done, and if it was done that report has ling been lost.

Was there any teeth int he ADA of 1990?  The answer is yes.

There is a 20% requirement.  Most hospitals had added facilities or remodeled facilities since 1990.  The ADA says that up to 20% of the money spent on new facilities or remodeled facilities must be allocated and spent on making their buildings (built prior to 1990) ADA compliant.

Have hospitals done that?

We at ACCESS do not know the answer; but we certainly can review the financial data and all building permits since 1990 and come up with the answer.  The answer will most likely be no, the 20% rule wasn't followed.  But what if the hospital could not afford to retrofit?  That is the whole point of the 20% rule.

If hospitals could afford the ADA retrofit then they were required to do the ADA retrofit.  If they could not afford the ADA retrofit, that is where the 20% rule come into play.  If they could afford construction or remodeling construction 30% of the money was to be spent on bringing their existing buildings into ADA compliance. 

What if it was not possible to bring the building into ADA compliance?  We at ACCESS have heard that story more than once.  All I can say is that in my 19 years of specializing in ADA retrofit construction work, we have never seen a condition that we could not come up with an ADA retrofit solution.

Give us your questions or thoughts on the above article.  You can post them here or on our FaceBook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Access-Technologies-Services-Inc/268659564730.  You can also reach us at hfalstad@accessts.net or call us at (702) 649-7575.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Hank


The above are opinions of Hank Falstad, AIA, Managing Senior Associate of Access Technologies Services, Inc. (ACCESS).  See our web site for additional information:  www.accessts.net.