HCF MC necessary passing over patient care areas?

[rubob]

I need to wire some air handlers in a nursing home which will require running MC over some of the rooms. 517.13(A) requires HCF MC for circuits 'serving patient care areas'. Does this refer only to the outlets serving the immediate rooms or do I need to run it for the HVAC systems as well?

 

[arcsnsparks98]

The HCF MC is purely for a redundant grounding path. It would only do any good if serving a utilization point within the actual patient care area. But the code is the minimum. Nothing says you cant have the best grounded HVAC unit in the building.