I write to support the petition for the Department of Health to amend regulations recently applied to women's health care facilities concerning their physical design. The standards the Board of Health has employed appear to apply to new construction. Hence the Board's preliminary decision to grandfather existing facilities appears consistent with the applicable state statute and those standards. The Board's subsequent decision to apply those standards to existing facilities, but only to women's health care facilities and not to other outpatient facilieies seems to raise serious equial protection issues. The department should reconsider and amend its regulations either to:

1. Apply new construction standards to all existing medical facilities, not just to women's health care facilities, or

2. Apply new construction standards to all facility new construction and not to any existing medical facilities, including women's health care facilities.

I believe that the department and other state and local government entities have more than adequate tools available to assure that existing health care facilties protect the safety of patients receiving care in those facilities, and that the disparate application of new construction standards is not necessary for the protection of women's health or safety.