In the 2015 Anthem data breach, the compromise of an adminstrator’s credentials was the initial entry point that caused the breach and exposure of 13.5 million patient records. High-profile, high-impact breaches like this are spurring healthcare enterprises to institute more cybersecurity defenses and to monitor the insider threat.
The Occupational Health Safety Network (OHSN) found that injuries associated with workplace violence increased overall from 2012 to 2014 and "nearly doubled for nurse assistants and nurses."
Emergency code terminology used to notify staff in healthcare facilities about an event that requires immediate action varies greatly from one facility to another in Pennsylvania. Healthcare facilities are encouraged to standardize codes for increased patient safety, according to a Pennsylvania Patient Safety Advisory article.
One in three U.S. hospitals reported an increase in violence and assaults in 2014 despite widespread rising security budgets, according to a survey of 380 hospital administrators, chief security officers and staff by Guardian 8 Corporation.
Hospitals, assisted living centers, nursing homes and other healthcare providers are under constant pressure to keep their facilities safe while managing costs. In addition, they need to manage constant visitor traffic, open access in multiple buildings, hectic emergency departments, confidentiality requirements, governmental standards and patient satisfaction surveys. To effectively deal with all these issues, more and more healthcare institutions are opting to outsource their physical security services.
While security departmentsare more concerned with disruptions to patient care and C-level executives are focused on hospital administrations’ understanding of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regulations, but hospital security decision-makers are focused on patients’ and officers’ safety overall.
In a new Solutions by Sector webinar presented by SECURITY and SDM, Jim Sawyer, director of security services for Seattle Children’s Hospital for more than 30 years, recommends that every progressive security team should adopt a “zero incidents” philosophy.
Safety and security is a number one priority at Seattle Children's Hospital and is recognized as being everybody’s responsibility. A safe culture is one that understands the hazards and risks that impact operations and encourages the reporting of potential and actual events.