(210 ILCS 85/8.5)

Sec. 8.5.

Waiver or alternative compliance.

Upon application by a hospital, the Department may grant or
renew a waiver or alternative compliance methodology with a rule or standard, including without limitation rules and standards for
(i) design and construction, (ii) engineering and maintenance of the physical
plant, site,
equipment, and systems (heating, cooling, electrical, ventilation, plumbing,
water, sewer, and solid waste disposal), (iii) fire and safety, and
(iv) other rules or standards that may present a barrier to the development,
adoption, or implementation of an innovation designed to improve patient
care, for a period not to exceed the duration of the current
license or, in the
case of an application for license renewal, the duration of the renewal period.
The waiver
may be conditioned upon the hospital taking action prescribed by the Department
as a
measure equivalent to compliance. In determining whether to grant or renew a
waiver,
the Department shall consider the duration and basis for any current waiver
with respect
to the same rule or standard and the validity and effect upon patient health
and safety of
extending it on the same basis, the effect upon the health and safety of patients, the
quality of patient care, the hospital's history of compliance with the rules
and standards of
this Act, and the hospital's attempts to comply with the particular rule or
standard in
question. The Department may provide, by rule, for the automatic renewal of
waivers
concerning construction or physical plant requirements upon the renewal of a
license. The
Department
shall renew waivers relating to construction or physical plant standards issued
pursuant to
this Section at
the time of the indicated reviews, unless it can show why such waivers should
not be
extended for the following reasons:

(1) the condition of the physical plant has deteriorated or its use substantially

changed so that the basis upon which the waiver was issued is materially different; or

(2) the hospital is renovated or substantially remodeled in such a way as to permit

compliance with the applicable rules and standards without substantial increase in cost.

A copy of each waiver application and each waiver granted or renewed shall be
on file with the Department and available for public inspection.

The Department shall advise hospitals of any applicable federal waivers about
which it is aware and for
which the hospital may apply.

In the event that the Department does not grant or renew a waiver
of a rule or standard, the Department must notify the hospital in writing
detailing the specific reasons for not granting or renewing the waiver and
must discuss possible options, if any, the hospital could take to
have the waiver approved.

This Section shall apply to both new and existing construction.

(Source: P.A. 92-803, eff. 8-16-02; 93-41, eff. 6-27-03.)