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Is security an investment or a cost? Since the preventative value of security is difficult to prove, each professional security practitioner must do his or her best to take existing data and translate it into a language that the C-Suite will understand, the author says. In this article he describes ways that appropriate resourcesfor security in the healthcare environment can be validated.

The author, who has managed both in-house and contracted security services, states unequivocally that hospitals can save money by hiring a security company, but cautions that there may be other considerations involved. In this article he provides guidance on making valid and meaningful comparisons between the two options.

Implementing management science into security isn't hard and is more necessary than ever according to the author who presents and illustrates a five point plan that he says will get the security job done easier and with more commitment from the Board.

Obtaining effective security resourcing and staffing for smaller healthcare facilities presents many difficulties, according to the author In this article, he provides guidance to security practitioners on taking existing data and translating it into a language that administration will understand and appreciate.

Natural disasters, new diseases, increased violence, combined with cuts in Medicare and Medicaid funding will be among a host of developments that will challenge healthcare security professionals in the next three decades, according to the authors, and require changes in crime control methods, greater reliance on metrics, and development of innovative practices to survive and flourish.

The article describes how a hospital's Protective Services Division, working closely with Human Resources, developed several recommendations to alter the current security coverage without sacrificing employee safety in order to minimize the use of overtime dollars. With a security department competing with many other divisions for the same dollar resources, organizations will not be willing in a tight market to support a department that does not demonstrate fiscal responsibility, according to the authors. Additionally, they state, security initiatives must be aligned with the strategic initiatives of the organization in order to be funded by senior leaders.

Opportunities to create programs that enhance the value of the security function are present now and will be in the future, according to the author, who illustrates a number of ways the resourceful security practitioner can add to his department's reputation and his organization's bottom line.

Customer service, benchmarking, and budget control have supplanted enforcement as the essential parts of hospital security operations, according to the author. In the article he emphasizes and illustrates the need for security satisfaction surveys and benchmarking to enable the budget process to go smoothly.

To get additional dollars or avoid budget cuts or personnel reductions, healthcare security directors should consider a budget approach that best justifies the needs of the department or organization.

Achieving relevancy and efficiency for his or her department is within the grasp of every hospital security manager, according to the author who sets forth a blueprint for reaching those goals.

Despite the need to meet growing threats within a facility, cutbacks in hospital income and the resultant budget restraints continue to challenge hospital security departments to do more with less. This article reports on a number of approaches being employed to successfully meet the challenges.

The protective services department at Children's Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati makes employee satisfaction a priority through ongoing recognition and professional development efforts.

One of healthcare security's greatest challenges, says the author, is fulfilling its duties, responsibilities, and services with reduced staffing and resources. Here he provides his experience in improving security with new initiatives and changes under a hospital downsizing and cost-containment program.

How can healthcare staff at diverse and remote off-site locations be protected? The right security technologies balanced with human resources, says the author, can help security professionals find cost-effective ways to handle the difficult challenges of the healthcare environment.

The death of a newborn successfully kidnapped from a hospital nursery overshadowed a recent record of fewer or no abductions compared to prior years. In this case, for the first time in hundreds of fatal or non-fatal kidnappings, HCFA made serious threats to cut off the hospital's Medicare funding.

The need of the security manager to market himself or herself and the value of the services he or she performs has become a critical element of security operations today in all industries, including health care. In this article, the author reviews the wide range of options to be considered in offering security services both inside and outside your facility.

The author offers suggestions on how healthcare security can survive in this changing environment of downsizing. Be proactive and show how important security is, he says.

The results of a hospital security survey using a random sampling of hospital organizations in the AHA Membership Directory. The survey covered staffing, security attire and equipment, training, use of physical security, and bicycle patrols. No serious security staffing cutbacks have taken place in the past two years, according to survey respondents.

Salaries of the person who heads a hospital's security department can range from $18,500 to $75,000. Security staffs can range from 5.6 FTE's to 136.8. Within these ranges, however, there are a number of factors which determine the size of salary or the makeup of staff. This section of the IAHSS 1994 crime survey provides the most recent information on those factors and the possible rationales behind them. In addition, it provides the latest data on what equipment, including guns and other weapons, is carried by hospital security officers, as well as reporting on current uniform preferences. Eleven charts are included.

This article shows how security directors can answer simplistic security formulas used by some consultants and contractors with meaningful measurements. It presents ideas and approaches for cost-cutting, and may help the security director, if called on, to cut costs in a way that will continue to provide the most security per dollar spent.

How the author and his hospital were granted a training waiver to use IAHSS's 40-Hour Basic Certification Course in lieu of the new York State-mandated 16-Hour On-The-Job Training Course. By obtaining the waiver, he says, he was able to save budget dollars and get more effective training for his security officers.

The author presents a case study in which multidisciplinary teamwork, data collection, and carefully planned interventions decreased the number and expense of violent or security-related incidents in a hospital. The study was prepared in collaboration with Claude Barnes, security officer, who did much of the research and statistical analysis.

Security, say the authors, should be viewed as a profit center that protects the patients, staff, visitors, property, and assets of healthcare organizations from violent crime, injury, theft, or vandalism ... and the resulting devastating litigation. Security services, which protect the "bottom line," should be a central part of any healthcare organization.

Today there are many concerns about the seemingly "unrestrained runaway battle" with health care costs. The author discusses three trends that result in increased patient costs, as well as how to use engineering controls, education, and employee "openness" to reduce overhead costs in order to benefit the patient and the hospital.

This article provides a case history of a hospital's experience with a canine program. It gives details on how and why the program was chosen, training and costs involved, first-year results, and its value for hospital security.

The author discusses why police chiefs who have not yet given thought to developing a security partnership agenda should begin now. Partnerships, he says, should be cultivated between public police and private security.

Forces to cancel the first basic security officers training program in Maine in 1989, the author relates how the Pine Tree Chapter members were able to obtain state vocational education funds to finance two highly successful classes.

The pressures have never been greater on security directors to demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of their expenditures. Here's one approach to budgeting that can be instrumental in getting manpower requests approved.

Lack of funding for crisis training of security officers can be overcome if you obtain the support of other departments who will be the beneficiaries of such training. Here is how one security director obtained the funding she needed and turned this new capability into a marketing plus for the hospital.

The growth of the concept of a public safety officer to take the place of the police officer, fireman and paramedic, is producing cost savings and other benefits in the public sector The author presents a model for the private sector to enable it to utilize its human resources more cost effectively.