DALLAS, Texas — The Facility Guidelines Institute has released the draft of a new standard on residential care facilities for public comment. Titled “Guidelines for Design and Construction of Residential Health, Care, and Support Facilities,” the document provides minimum recommendations for new construction and renovation of nursing homes, hospice facilities, assisted living facilities, independent living settings, adult day care facilities, wellness centers and outpatient rehabilitation centers.
Developed in response to the widespread adoption of person-centered care and deinstitutionalization in the residential care industry, the new guidelines are based on the requirements for residential care facilities in the 2010 edition of the FGI Guidelines for Design and Construction of Health Care Facilities and public proposals submitted on that text in fall 2011.
“The new FGI Guidelines, created with an interdisciplinary volunteer team, is a milestone document created to support the evolution of long-term care environments, while providing consistent guidance for providers, design professionals and authorities that have jurisdiction. The ultimate goal is to provide the framework for environments that support positive resident outcomes,” says Jane Rohde, tri-chair of the FGI Specialty Subgroup on Residential Facilities, which developed the draft of the new document.
The proposed content for the “Guidelines for Design and Construction of Residential Health, Care, and Support Facilities” addresses the programming process in detail as the basis for well-designed and well-constructed long-term care environments. Specific overlay information has been added to help designers address the needs of residents with dementia, mental health diagnoses and cognitive and developmental disabilities along with information on how facilities support bariatric needs and sustainable design. The new standard will generally follow the format of the original, with text written as code language so states can easily adopt it to regulate design and construction of included facility types.
All comments must be submitted through an electronic proposal system hosted by the FGI. The comment system, which can be accessed at www.fgiguidelines.org, will be open until March 20.
