Do you consider healthcare one of your key target markets or wish it was a bigger percentage of your business? The healthcare industry has dramatically increased its spending over the past 30 years. According to the American Hospital Association, there are over 16,500 medical facilities in the U.S. that spent over $1 trillion in expenses last year. Your company could have a piece of that.
To be successful in this market, you need to do several things. First, you must identify security solutions to make healthcare organizations more secure and code compliant while reducing risk. Second, you must position your company as a trusted security advisor rather than just another vendor. Third, you must identify the proper tools you need to help win healthcare business.
Complex needs and challenges
A healthcare security organization is potentially the most complex environment to secure. An emergency room open to the public attracts domestic and/or gang violence; a birthing center or infant care area must protect against abductions and custody challenges; pharmacies must remain secure around the clock and track inventory to eliminate the potential for drug abuse and theft; research labs need to protect game-changing proprietary information.
A nuclear medicine area houses potentially toxic materials; violent outbursts against staff and wandering patients are two challenges for the geriatric and psychiatric areas. Other areas that require security include loading docks, medical device inventory rooms, biohazard waste storage areas, food service areas, parking lots and ramps, operating rooms, administrative offices, medical records rooms, gift shops and the morgue.
How do you meet those needs? You must invest in a vendor partner with best-in-breed partner products to help healthcare organizations with all their challenges. Healthcare organizations need access control, video management, voice and audio, biometrics, building control, intrusion, and identity, visitor and alarm management functions to make them more secure, safe and code compliant to reduce their risk. These security functions must operate across separate buildings and converge in the security operations center.
Create a relationship where healthcare organizations rely on you for answers. You don’t want to be just the vendor that installed the security system, or the person who fixed last night’s glitch. You want to become their number one go-to company for all questions. Get involved in their daily activities and learn first-hand what their security needs are. Rather than just supplying product, provide a valued solution. Don’t get caught up in meeting your quota; work to establish trusted relationships with all involved. Be proactive when you learn something new. Make suggestions that will solve challenges they haven’t anticipated, rather than react to a problem.
“One of the biggest problems we see is that healthcare organizations don’t perform the proper calculations and are nervous to place anything on their existing network,” said Systems Integrator, Engineered Security Systems, Engineer, Ken Whelan. Engineered Systems anticipated this challenge and provided a solution so it didn’t become a problem.
“Since the original security design, our customer Holy Name Medical Center has almost doubled the number of cards and cameras. That would have overloaded the system and been a disaster if their system wasn’t on a separate network.”
Invest your time and money into a powerful, all encompassing security management solution that can meet all the diverse needs of a healthcare organization. Make sure the security management system integrates with best-in-breed partners to anticipate future challenges. Whether it is IP Intercom for parking lots and emergency rooms, mobile access control for patrol guards on healthcare construction sites, or converging physical and logical access by providing a single user ID sign-on for data centers, records rooms and research areas, you must be prepared to provide your healthcare organization with the tools it needs to protect its patients, staff and facilities.
The security platform should also work well with a guard force, and complement their intricate role in a hospital’s security plan.
Trusted security advisors know HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 Security Rule) and how to help their customers comply. HIPAA focuses on electronic protected health information (EPHI) and protecting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of EPHI. To become a trusted security advisor on this topic, you can join a hospital security organization such as the International Association for Healthcare Security & Safety at www.iahss.org.
The right manufacturing partner will offer your clients backwards compatibility, scale-ability and upgrade ability with its software and hardware. A deeply integrated, centrally managed, intelligently distributed security management system will provide you and your healthcare customers the solution they need now and into the future. Partnering with a manufacturer that provides software support agreements will allow the healthcare facility to protect its software investment. Working with a manufacturer that provides exceptional customer service will guarantee that not only are they getting the best products and customer service available, but they will look to you as the trusted advisor because you took great care in partnering with the right company…to help them.
