CHC Professional Ethics & Legal Compliance 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A CHC discovers that a subcontractor is using unlicensed workers on a healthcare project. What is the constructor's primary ethical obligation?
- Document the issue and report it to the project owner and relevant licensing board (Correct answer)
- Ignore the issue as it is the subcontractor's responsibility
- Allow the work to continue if the quality meets standards
- Renegotiate the subcontract to lower costs instead
Correct answer: Document the issue and report it to the project owner and relevant licensing board
CHCs bear ethical and legal responsibility for ensuring all workers on their project are properly licensed and must report violations to the appropriate authorities.
Question 2: Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which element is a CHC most responsible for ensuring in new healthcare facility construction?
- Accessible routes, restrooms, and entrances meeting ADA standards (Correct answer)
- Providing sign language interpreters for deaf construction workers
- Installing closed-captioning on all patient televisions
- Ensuring all staff receive ADA sensitivity training
Correct answer: Accessible routes, restrooms, and entrances meeting ADA standards
CHCs must ensure the physical built environment complies with ADA accessibility requirements, including accessible routes, parking, restrooms, and entrances.
Question 3: A hospital project owner pressures the CHC to skip required fire protection system inspections to accelerate the schedule. The ethical response is to:
- Refuse and insist all code-required inspections be completed before occupancy (Correct answer)
- Comply if the owner signs a written waiver of liability
- Complete the skipped inspections after occupancy begins
- Proceed and notify the insurer after the fact
Correct answer: Refuse and insist all code-required inspections be completed before occupancy
Fire protection inspections are code-mandated for life safety and cannot be legally or ethically waived by any project party.
Question 4: Which federal law most directly governs worker exposure to hazardous materials like asbestos during hospital renovation?
- OSHA Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) standard (Correct answer)
- HIPAA Privacy Rule
- Americans with Disabilities Act
- Stark Law
Correct answer: OSHA Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) standard
OSHA's HAZWOPER and asbestos standards directly regulate worker protection during disturbance of hazardous materials in construction and renovation.
Question 5: A CHC receives a change order request from a subcontractor citing differing site conditions. The most ethical course of action is to:
- Investigate the claim objectively and process a fair adjustment if the conditions differ from contract documents (Correct answer)
- Deny all differing site condition claims to protect the budget
- Accept the claim without investigation to maintain the relationship
- Assign the cost to the owner without verifying the claim
Correct answer: Investigate the claim objectively and process a fair adjustment if the conditions differ from contract documents
Ethical contract administration requires objective investigation of differing site condition claims and fair adjustment when conditions genuinely differ from what was represented.
Question 6: A healthcare constructor learns mid-project that a material specified by the engineer contains a known carcinogen banned under state environmental law. The constructor should:
- Immediately notify the design team and owner, and halt installation pending substitution approval (Correct answer)
- Install the material since the engineer specified it, transferring liability
- Use the material only in non-patient areas to minimize risk
- Proceed and disclose in the project closeout documents
Correct answer: Immediately notify the design team and owner, and halt installation pending substitution approval
Discovering that a specified material violates environmental law requires immediate stop-work notification to all parties and coordination on an approved substitution.
Question 7: The Stark Law (Physician Self-Referral Law) is most relevant to a CHC when:
- Reviewing contracts for financial arrangements between the facility owner and referring physicians that could affect project scope (Correct answer)
- Selecting subcontractors for electrical work
- Determining worker compensation rates
- Choosing between competing product specifications
Correct answer: Reviewing contracts for financial arrangements between the facility owner and referring physicians that could affect project scope
Stark Law governs financial relationships between healthcare entities and physicians, and CHCs should be aware when project contracts involve such arrangements that could affect facility ownership or use.
CHC Professional Ethics & Legal Compliance 3
A CHC discovers that a subcontractor is using unlicensed workers on a healthcare project.
What is the constructor's primary ethical obligation?