The LEED for Healthcare Green Building Rating System was developed to meet the unique needs of the health care market, including inpatient care facilities, licensed outpatient care facilities, and licensed long term care facilities. LEED for Healthcare may also be used for medical offices, assisted living facilities and medical education & research centers. LEED for Healthcare addresses issues such as increased sensitivity to chemicals and pollutants, traveling distances from parking facilities, and access to natural spaces.
The LEED for Healthcare rating system represents a culmination of four years of close collaboration between the Green Guide for Healthcare (GGHC) and USGBC. GGHC has helped to streamline the LEED for Healthcare’s development schedule by aligning with the LEED for New Construction rating system’s organizational structure and by conducting public comment periods and a robust pilot program* that included more than 100 health care facilities.
LEED for Healthcare Public Comment
The first public comment period for LEED for Healthcare is now closed.
As outlined in the balloting policy, “a period of no less than thirty days will be allowed to collate comments and draft revisions in response to comments. Similar comments may be aggregated, along with explanations of how any differences were resolved. The LEED Steering Committee will approve revisions to the product or item.”
Once responses and revisions have been developed a second public comment period will follow. As outlined in the balloting policy, “an annotated draft highlighting any further changes made to proposed action will be posted on the web site along with a summary of public comments and responses. Comments on the changes to the proposed action only will be accepted for a period of fifteen days; subsequent comments on the changes to the proposed action will be considered for incorporation into the ballot draft within sixty days.”
*LEED for Healthcare utilized the GGHC pilot project input to inform the development of the rating system. The combined efforts of GGHC and LEED for Healthcare core committees have specifically addressed credit doability, certifiability, and verifiability in drafting the credits, with feedback solicited from these pilots. This has made it possible to bypass the pilot process with LEED for Healthcare. When approved by USGBC membership, all health care projects will have access to the rating system, including the reference guide, workshops, and LEED Online.
Learn more about the Green Guide for Health Care, and the partnership between GGHC and USGBC
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