What is a hospital Security Consultant?  Seems like a fairly easy answer; someone that advises healthcare organizations on security standards and assists them in resolving security issues.  However, the reality is that it is much more complicated than that.

Hospital Security

Unlike security in almost all other types of business, healthcare is truly a different breed.  Healthcare organizations have very restrictive laws and standards that they must follow, and in several states the security departments in healthcare have laws that pertain just to them.

Hospital Security Regulatory Requirements

When we speak of regulatory requirements that healthcare must follow, we are talking about the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS); Department of Public Health; DEA/FDA; and HIPAA to name just a few.  On top of that many healthcare organizations are accredited through the Joint Commission or DNV, which have standards that the hospitals must adhere too.

Hospital Workplace Violence

The number of workplace violence incidents in healthcare has increased every year for the last several years and several states have passed laws that require healthcare security to take certain actions and make mandatory reporting.  Due to all the violence, and other serious security incidents within healthcare, many organizations retain the services of “Healthcare Security Consultants” to come in and review their security program.  That has been going on for years, and will likely continue for years to come.  However, when you intend to bring in an expert in healthcare security they should fit that need.

Unbiased Hospital Security Consultant

Did you know that there are hundreds of so called hospital security consultants in the United States?  Did you know that the majority of them have never worked in the healthcare field as a security professional?  In fact, there are some out there that claim to be an expert in healthcare security and their “experience” is that they worked in the medical field over 20 years ago, but that work had nothing to do with security.

If you are looking to retain a healthcare security expert to assist your organization you need to do your research before hiring a firm.  Just because they claim to be an expert it does not mean they are.  There are some simple things that you can do to insure that you are getting the most qualified expert to assist your organization.

Board Certified Healthcare Security

First, certification should be a requirement. In healthcare security you should be looking for a Certified Healthcare Protection Administrator (CHPA).  These professional have been certified through the International Association for Healthcare Security & Safety (IAHSS) as being professional healthcare security practitioners. The IAHSS is the only healthcare security professional association in the world and the CHPA is highest professional certification available.

Board Certified in Security Management

Second, look for a Certified Protection Professional (CPP).  The CPP is the highest security certification internationally, and the professionals with this certification have been Board Certified in Security Management.

Hospital Security Experts References

Finally, ask prospective consultants for their experience in healthcare.  They may give you a list of references, but keep in mind that some of those references may be decades old.

For example, one security expert provides a long list of references to prospective clients, and in many cases the new clients are so impressed by the list that they just retain that firm without verifying any of the references.  We think they would be surprised to learn that several of those past clients were over from over 20 years ago, and have since used our firm several times because they were not impressed with the other firm that is still using their name as a reference.  In fact many of our recent clients come to our firm after a disappointing experience with another so called healthcare security consultant.  We certainly appreciate their continued business, but there are “consultants” out there that give the true professionals a bad name.  So to avoid similar experiences we would encourage you to conduct your due diligence during your selection process.