Green Acoustics at green.sacnc.com Stewart Acoustical Consultants

This information is courtesy of the speech privacy subcommittee of the technical committee on noise at ASA (speechprivacy.org)
 
1. PENALTIES: HIPAA enforcement has been lax, but starting this month (Nov 30), there’s a new $1.5 million penalty for non-compliance as part of Obama’s ARRA-HITECH ACT. If Speech Privacy is one of your interests, this impacts you… See: http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/hipaa-violators-could-face-fines-15m 
 
2. THE NEW GUIDELINES APPEAR IN MID-JANUARY: …. In mid-January, the new comprehensive acoustical guidelines for healthcare facilities will be published. To order a copy, go to: www.fgi-guidelines.org. Simultaneously, we will publish an updated version of the 50-page “Acoustical Guidelines” (which is the reference standard for the FGI Guidelines) at www.healthcareacoustics.org.
 
3. NEW RESEARCH COMMUNITY: In January our (speech privacy subcommittee) website (www.healthcareacoustics.org) will launch an “online community” for healthcare research to enable healthcare institutions to interact directly with acoustics researchers and consultants. For information, click here .

This FGI guideline paves the way for LEED for Healthcare as well. Per the powerpoint on the “click here” above (thanks to David Sykes et al)

Two “EQ” credits available for acoustics in:

• The LEED-based Green Guide for Healthcare V2.2 (1.31.07),
• the new LEED  for Healthcare (due out late 2009)

FGI’s Interim Sound and Vibration Guideline is the sole reference standard for these credits

 (Added comment from Joe Bridger- HIPAA privacy will likely look to these guides and the related research for its fines.)

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