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Operational success in the healthcare sector presents a unique challenge — delivering care to patients while also functioning in a highly sensitive, unpredictable environment. Unfortunately, due to open-door policies and the nature of their work, healthcare facilities, hospitals, and clinics are at a higher risk of threats and workplace violence. According to the ACS, healthcare workers face five times more risk at their jobs than the average American worker. Incidents involving theft, violence, and data breaches are all more common in healthcare settings than in the majority of other workplaces. As a result, providers are forced to monitor each of these risks while maintaining a primary focus on patient care and well-being.
But with so much focus on patient care and safety, healthcare institutions must also account for the security of the individuals involved in the care process. As an industry-leading security provider, we work closely with healthcare leaders to assess threats and build strategies that help providers protect their stakeholders.
Threats to People: Safety in High-Stress Environments
A safe, secure environment is fundamental to the proper care of patients, but the nature of healthcare can pose inherent risks with the potential to escalate unexpectedly. The high-stress situations that can arise in patient care settings can also create reactionary and volatile responses, threatening the safety of healthcare staff, visitors, and other patients.
In other cases, families of patients receiving at-home care, particularly during end-of-life situations, are often enduring some of the hardest moments of their lives. This, naturally, can lead to heightened emotions, stress, and sometimes even conflict or violence. In each case, this makes the situation more challenging for the family members and caregivers involved.
Pinkerton can help healthcare providers gauge the crime risk their employees may face at the neighborhood level when providing in-home care. The Pinkerton Crime Index (PCI) — a proprietary dashboard that uses best-in-class crime data to help business leaders protect their employees, facilities, and assets — can help pinpoint locations with an elevated chance of violence, allowing organizations to better assess risk. Using the data gained from PCI, Pinkerton creates detailed, unbiased reports at a hyper-localized level, which helps providers plan and prepare employees for in-home visits with patients and families and assign resources based on risk
Threats to Intellectual Property and Assets: Protection for Sensitive Data and Assets in Medical Organizations
In addition to patient and caregiver safety, healthcare organizations also must protect a massive amount of physical and digital assets: patient information, highly specialized equipment, and pharmaceutical supplies. Thefts of narcotics and other prescription medications are an increasing threat, which highlights the importance of supply chain security in healthcare and staying a step ahead of potential problems before they occur. Taking preventative steps — such as leveraging controlled dispensing schedules, armored transport vehicles, and access-restricted storage areas — can help keep crime risks in healthcare settings in check.
Intellectual property and infrastructure are equally vulnerable. Breaches of hospital systems or deliberate sabotage, which has happened in the past during labor disputes and other flashpoints, can have long-lasting consequences.
With the help of our in-depth data and 175 years of experience, Pinkerton experts can conduct thorough site risk assessments. Pinkerton brings a number of tools that can help identify and address potential threats, including technical surveillance countermeasures and penetration testing for healthcare organizations. These rigorous assessments allow providers to identify and correct vulnerabilities in their operations and provide our team with the information needed to further develop safety protocols aimed at early detection and crime prevention.
Threats to Reputation: Mitigating Risks in an Unpredictable World
In business, reputation means everything. At its core, reputation is built on trust — patients, families, and communities must feel confident that healthcare organizations are safe, secure, and able to deliver care without exposing anyone to unnecessary risks. With the prevalence of both physical and digital threats in a setting that is highly sensitive in nature, maintaining that trust has become increasingly difficult.
Pinkerton’s team analyzes these risks to determine how safety failures impact not just daily operations but also long-term business goals. When safety isn’t prioritized, patients may feel unsafe returning, and healthcare systems risk losing memberships or new subscribers. When a large group of people experiences a collective loss of faith in an organization, it can take years to recover.
After a comprehensive program review, Pinkerton develops security strategies that include live drills and hands-on training. After all, the best way to prevent a hit to an organization’s reputation is to proactively address the problem before the damage is done.
Healthcare Security Solutions: Creating Safe & Caring Environments for All
Our ultimate challenge lies in helping you implement these essential security measures without making any sacrifices to the dignity and standard of care that patients deserve. At Pinkerton, we focus on creating and adjusting individualized healthcare risk management strategies to meet the unique challenges of this complex industry.
If your organization needs to strengthen its security approach without making concessions in patient care, Pinkerton experts are ready to help. Reach out to our experts today to stay ahead of the problems of tomorrow.
