Healthcare Security Services: Our Unique Insights

PalAmerican is a leader in healthcare security for a number of reasons, including:

• Our people: We employ a diligent screening process, followed by a comprehensive time-tested training program to find the right people to work in these complex and demanding settings.
• Our compensation and benefits are among the best in the industry.
• HealthSecure™, a proprietary security platform, developed specifically for the needs of healthcare security, from safeguarding patient valuables and parking lots to managing aggressive patients.
• HealthProtec™, PalAmerican’s healthcare violence management program, developed to address the serious security challenges posed by Emergency Departments and Behavioral/Mental Health Units—the two highest risk departments for security—while recognizing that violence can and does occur anywhere in the healthcare environment.
• Our Training: Our leading-edge healthcare classroom training, developed by recognized industry leaders, is supported by our learning management system with an ever-growing curriculum of over 100 courses offered online, tested and linked to our employee profiles.
• Our commitment to train and certify all security staff in aggressive behavior de-escalation techniques and a use of force program built for healthcare, recognizing that aggressors are patients.
• Our best practices healthcare security program, based on IAHSS guidelines, which PalAmerican uses as the foundation for all security operations and staff training.
• Our extensive background in conducting hospital security risk assessments.
• Our commitment to providing cost-effective security solutions.
• State-of-the-art communications systems—a web-based portal that allows employees real-time access to a variety of important functions such as schedule, time-off requests, uniform requests, their pay, etc. Our staff utilize our TrackTik system to prepare and distribute real-time reports detailing each incident and tracking activities. The system meets HIPAA requirements to protect the confidentiality and privacy rights of patients.
• PalAmerican carries the highest liability insurance coverage in the industry.

Healthcare Security Staffing

We provide security staffing in hospitals, with an emphasis on Emergency Department (ED) and Behavioral/Mental Health Unit (BHU) security, as well as clinics, urgent treatment centers and long-term care facilities. In short, anywhere that health services are delivered.

Hospital Security Staffing Approach

• Security policies tailored to the hospital’s specific needs
• Staffing based on vulnerability and actual risk-based security requirements
• Security operations tailored to each hospital’s individual security requirements
• Security training directed at understanding the sensitive needs of patients, visitors and staff
• Staff who are IAHSS certified and are familiar with hospital regulations and directives
• All staff are FEMA, HIPAA and NIMS trained and attuned to the business of care
• Post orders for all shifts, posts and assignments
• Active engagement and support by PalAmerican healthcare-experienced management
• Staff IDs that are easily recognized and specific to each hospital discipline
• Ongoing and regular evaluation of security effectiveness and client satisfaction

The HealthSecure™ Platform

• Easily replicable from hospital to hospital within a healthcare system, allowing consistent high standards.
• Provides the highest level of security via our acclaimed HealthProtec™ program, which emphasizes Emergency Department and Behavioral/Mental Health Unit safety and security.
• Incorporates up to 39 individual healthcare security best practices, e.g., Emergency Department security, hospital patrol, workplace violence management, infant care protection
• Fosters compliance with all Joint Commission and National Integrated Accreditation for Healthcare Organizations (NIAHO) standards, and federal (HIPAA, FEMA and OSHA), state and local regulations.
• Integrates technology systems with security staffing operations, and supervision (HealthObserve™).
• Safeguards a hospital’s reputation and image within the community and healthcare industry.
• Reduces hospital expenses associated with workers’ compensation claims, theft, and liability insurance.

HealthSecure™–A Four Phase Security Platform

Phase 1: Security Risk Assessment
Utilizing security risk assessment findings to create a corrective measures plan

Phase 2: Hospital Security Transition
Implementing a transition plan, and assigning healthcare security personnel

Phase 3: Security Management
Facilitating a safe and effective healthcare security approach

Phase 4: Healthcare Security Evaluation
Measuring the effectiveness and quality of PalAmerican management and operations

PalAmerican has developed and introduced a hospital violence management approach called HealthProtec™ that incorporates six primary components:

• In-depth violence risk assessment within each hospital.
• Identifying security staff that are best suited for a hospital assignment.
• Advanced aggressive behavior and violence de-escalation and management training required for all our personnel.
• A patient-centric approach to mitigating violence, assuring that only the minimum level of force is employed to control aggressive and combative behaviors.
• An Incident Management and Reporting System, HealthObserve™, that provides both client and PalAmerican officials with real-time information concerning violent incidents and trending.
• Ongoing evaluation of each HealthProtec™ initiative to determine program effectiveness in consultation with our clients.

Our personnel are trained in ED and BHU safety and security, emphasizing:

• Patient-centric approach to support patient care and the safe and secure environment of care for all.
• Management of ED and BHU lobbies and support areas.
• Response to aggressive patient calls (including emergency code response).
• Support clinicians in the use of restraints for combative patients in compliance with The Joint Commission, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and DNV Regulation.

To protect our healthcare and hospital clients, PalAmerican carries one of the highest general liability insurance policies in the security industry.

Safety is Paramount

The success of any patient watch program will depend on the level of investment the organization makes into the program. As the healthcare security leader, PalAmerican recognizes this unique function within healthcare, and provides our patient watch officers with job-specific training, knowledge and the tools to succeed.

Acknowledging the role as a skilled position, PalAmerican has set the standard for professionalism while supporting the safety and security of the patient and of staff for these on-demand services.

Whether supplementing site-based security in an acute care setting or working with staff in a long-term care facility, PalAmerican is there to support a safe and secure environment of care.

Hospital Risk Assessments

Based on Joint Commission, OSHA, NIAHO and IAHSS standards, PalAmerican risk assessments examine a multitude of factors in completing a review of your facilities.

These include the geographical location and surrounding demographics, taking into account the building designs and layout. We look at building access points and audit security incident data, the levels of physical protection required, and how the administration, clinical and security management teams interact. As a member of the IAHSS Healthcare Council, which produces both security design and operational guidelines for healthcare, we actually write these guidelines.

We examine the size and makeup of the current security team, as well as the patient, staff and visitor ID systems, and the training that security personnel have received, in addition to any special security protocols for security-sensitive areas or hospital-specific policies and procedures.

These and many more factors are considered when preparing our detailed and actionable risk assessment.

The following integral concerns are addressed in our clients’ long-term care security programs:

Unique Security Requirements
LTC residents may suffer from medical conditions such as dementia or Alzheimer’s that cause them to act out, or to elope or to wander. Our LTC security program recognizes these unique challenges and we have designed a program to support the safe care of LTC residents and staff.

Resident and Family Relations
Residents stay for extended periods; as a result, their interaction and communication with security staff may assume more significance than in shorter-stay facilities. Security staff must have excellent communication and customer service skills to work with the residents and their families, and communicate effectively with care staff.

Elopement and Wandering Residents
PalAmerican’s approach is threefold: creating sound policies and procedures designed to mitigate elopements, training specifically for elopement prevention and response, and use of systems such as Roam Alert™ to monitor unauthorized resident movement. Our expertise has also been utilized to design safe but secure settings for residents. In addition, our on-demand patient watch services are also available, should a short-term need arise, to assist in the safe management of a resident for elopement or aggression.

Interview and Investigation
PalAmerican’s LTC staff employs our TrackTik system to prepare and distribute real-time reports detailing each incident and to document activity. The system meets HIPAA requirements to protect the confidentiality and privacy rights of residents.

Resident and Family Aggression
All LTC security staff are trained and certified by the Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI) or to the preferences of the healthcare system. These programs teach de-escalation and specialized restraint techniques used with combative residents and combine with our use of force for healthcare module to ensure our response is both therapeutic and effective.

Emergency Response
LTC security personnel are trained in fire safety and response to major emergencies, some of which may warrant the evacuation of a long-term care facility.

Resident Care Units
LTC security personnel are thoroughly oriented to resident care typologies, the specific medical and care distinctions, and the most appropriate security approach for each.

Long-Term Care Staffing

• Policies tailored to LTC facilities security needs (elopement prevention, aggressive resident management, etc.).
• Staff assignments and operations based on vulnerability and security requirements.
• Training directed at understanding the sensitive needs of residents, visitors and healthcare staff.
• Personnel who are IAHSS certified.
• Personnel who are FEMA, HIPAA, OSHA and NIMS trained.
• Staff familiar with LTC facility clinical care regulations and directives.
• Active engagement by PalAmerican management.
• Quarterly evaluation of security effectiveness and client satisfaction.