The Regulatory Environment in Health Care Engineering
Perhaps the most complicated and confusing regulations that impinge on hospitals are the codes and standards associated with the design, construction, and maintenance of facilities - those for which the facility manager is responsible. Often, this same facility manager is responsible for energy management (demand side) and with energy deregulation, management of the procurement of energy, and utilities (supply side).
As much as deregulation has made an impact on energy management, environmental control needs, to remove contaminated air and to protect susceptible patients from airborne pathogens, have dramatically increased the complexity of hospital design, construction, and maintenance. This complexity directly translates into increased energy costs.