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The answer is probably. Hospitals have led many industries in the cost-effective practice of outsourcing specialty services. The advantages to going outside the organization for specialized expertise include cost savings, objectivity and efficiency. Consultants are typically specialists with a great deal of experience and expertise in a narrow niche. They also bring a breadth of experience because they benefit from the accumulated experience gained from serving several clients within a specialized industry, i.e., hospitals.
Security Consulting within the health care Industry is a somewhat recent phenomenon. The impetus has come from increased regulation; the rise of criminal activity in hospitals and the upsurge in security related litigation. The security demands of the average hospital, if properly addressed, are tremendous. How has the healthcare community responded?
Recent studies of security wage and salary data indicate that hospital security personnel are among the lowest paid when compared to other industries. Industries such as manufacturing, transportation, entertainment, and financial, to name a few, are paying their security managers substantially more than the average Hospital Security Manager. Clearly, this has an impact on the distribution of a finite talent pool. It is not unusual for a qualified security professional possessing the CPP (Certified Protection Professional) designation, to receive a six-figure salary and to often hold a Vice President Corporate designation.
The question becomes, does your hospital need such a highly qualified security professional to evaluate, design and manage your hospital security program? The answer may be "yes". The answer should not be "never". Budget considerations may mitigate against the hiring of a fully qualified security professional. However, budgetary limitations do not negate real need. The point is many hospitals do not need the most qualified and experienced security professional to design and manage the security program on a full time basis. However all hospitals do require a high level of expertise at some time.
This is the void that the security consultant can fill. Your hospital may not require expertise on a full time basis, but it does require this expertise from time to time. As with most consultants, security consultants will bill only for services provided either on an hourly basis or on a project basis. Consultants, who bring objectivity to the task without political baggage, provide solutions that are effective and cost beneficial. Because consultants are not tied to alarm companies or guard services, it is in their best interest to strive for quality while minimizing cost.
Some of the services provided by health care security consultants include security evaluations, security design, training, vendor interface and outsourced security management.
There are some cautions to consider when hiring a security consultant. First, don't let yourself be confused by the title consultant when a better description would be salesman. Many security vendors define themselves as consultants. The best way to avoid this pitfall is to consider only those individuals who are not working for an uniformed guard service or an electronic security purveyor. Second, be sure you are dealing with an experienced and credentialed consultant. The most widely accepted credential in the world for security professionals is the CPP designation. It is very useful to find someone who has had extensive experience testifying in litigations as a security expert. Court certified security experts have a good deal on insight as to how to avoid litigation.
Third, consider dealing with a consultant who thoroughly understands the very special needs of the hospital environment. Hospital security is unique from security programs in all other industries. For example, how do we maintain good security while at the same time keeping the hospital from looking like a prison? How do we insure the safety of patients, staff and visitors and not detract from the image the hospital wishes to portray to the community it serves.
Fourth, be sure to deal with a consultant who understands the business side of running a hospital. A consultant who does not understand budgets or concepts such as cost per patient per day ratios cannot begin to get his or her hands around the challenges of asset protection, property crime and fraud. Fifth, be sure to deal with a consultant who provides a quantitative basis for any security survey. Any subsequent security program that may be recommended should also produce measurable results. In the absence of quantifiable objectives, the security program will quickly become less and less relevant to the point of being predominately obsolete.
Finally, make sure that any security programs the consultant recommends take maximum advantage of existing resources. This includes involving the entire staff in a hospital-wide Security Awareness Program. The establishment and design of this program alone may be the single most cost-effective methodology your hospital could employ. Implicit in any security program should be a design that anticipates changing needs at least 3 years into the future. Hospital security consultants can design as well as implement customized security-training programs for security as well as non-security personnel. They can insure the continued relevancy of this training by conducting periodic refresher programs.
Some hospital security consultants can also provide full or part time management of your security department, whether contract or proprietary or a combination of both. They provide this service very much in the same way that Marriott and ServiceMaster may provide an equivalent service to the housekeeping department. This allows the hospital to use and budget for expertise only when needed without the ongoing payroll burden and other associated costs.
Bill Nesbitt would be happy to discuss this type of program at any time.
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