Security Technology Executive

FEB-MAR 2014

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www.SecurityInfoWatch.com 17 SECURITY TECHNOLOGY EXECUTIVE • February/March 2014 Most of the headlines surrounding the roll out of the Affordable Care Act have focused on the government's inability to solve a myr- iad of technical problems with the recently launched online health insurance market- place, Healthcare.gov. However, experts say that Obamacare could also have a substantial impact on physical security at hospitals and other healthcare facilities when the law goes into full effect beginning next year. Due to provisions within the law that relate to reimbursement for Medicare and Medicaid, Ben Scaglione, director of healthcare security services for G4S and a member at large on the board of the International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety (IAHSS), says that hospitals are being forced to make tough spending decisions regarding support ser- vices which include security. "What healthcare is starting to see right now is a loss in Medicare and Medicaid funding. What Obamacare has setup is that hospitals get a basic set of reimbursement or a basic number of dollars and then to get more of those dollars, it is based on (the hospital's) clinical data and patient satis- faction data. They have to meet certain national guidelines that are going to be changing over the next couple of years in order to get that higher level of reimbursement," Scaglione explains. According to an article published earlier this month by USA Today, the healthcare industry has announced more than 41,000 layoffs so far this year, the third most of any other industry. "Of course, whenever they lay off people and they want to make extra money they cut security because they think, 'oh, well look at all this money over here, we'll just cut that out and life will be wonderful,'" says Caroline Hamilton, presi- dent of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based security consulting firm Risk and Security, LLC. "Then, of course, it isn't but that's what happens when you're an operating expense and you're not self-funding or revenue generating." As a result, many hospitals are trimming internal security personnel from their payroll and outsourcing the job to contract guard services providers. "My company has been seeing and I know several other contract guard companies have also been seeing a replacement of in-house security staff because we can provide that service at a cheaper rate," says Scaglione. Just because hospitals may eliminate internal security officers in favor of contract guards, however, doesn't mean that there will be a drop in the quality of service, according to Hamilton. "I work with a lot of hospitals that have their own, in-house departments and I also work with hospitals that have contract guards and I've found that the guard services have really dramatically improved," she says. "I know that management at a lot of the guard companies are stressing guard response to things like workplace violence incidents and things like that. " Read the full article at www.securityinfowatch.com/article/11200812 By Joel Griffin, Editor, SecurityInfoWatch.com Obamacare to Impact Physical Security at Hospitals Experts discuss some of the unintended consequences of the healthcare law Available Exclusively on At the Frontline: ASIS President Richard Widup Richard "Rich" E. Widup, Jr., CPP, became the 59th president of ASIS International. Widup, who is the senior director of cor p orate s e c u r i t y for Con ne c t i c u t- based pharmaceuticals company Purdue Pharma, began his career in the private security sector in 2001 when he joined P fizer Global Security as the director for the Americas Region. See his inter- view with Editor Joel Griffin by going to: http://www.securityinfowatch. com/article/11314760 Selling the C-Suite on the value of security Selling leadership on the safeguards of protecting business assets has proven dif- ficult since the first executive realized what these safeguards will cost. However, selling leadership on what the costs over- all will be, monetarily and beyond, after the fact can be much easier if done cor- rectly. Learn what works when security executives align their departments with the goals of the C-suite to win favor. See more at: www.securityinfowatch. com/article/11300803 Why security consultants should attend the IAPSC conference T h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l A s s o c i a t i o n o f Professional Security Consultants (IAPSC) is one of the most widely respected and recognized security associations in the industry. Its rigid membership require- ments allow potential clients to select from an elite group of professional, ethi- cal and competent security consultants. This year's event is April 27-30 in New Orleans. Learn more by going to: www.security- infowatch.com/blog/11311676 Follow SIW today! Get daily updates on news that matters to you by following SecurityInfoWatch today. • Twitter: @SecInfoWatch • Facebook: www.facebook.com/SecInfoWatch STE_16-17_0314 Market Focus.indd 17 3/14/14 11:10 AM

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