Scott McGinnis, Healthcare Sector Leader at ISS – Intelligent Security Systems tells SJA how to mitigate the security challenges that face this sector.
I recently joined ISS as Healthcare Sector Leader, which was a new role for the company.
So when I joined, I was given the opportunity to build something from the ground up.
My role involves coordinating the go-to market strategy and understanding which analytics are applicable to this sector.
An important thing to note is that the healthcare industry is not limited to just hospitals, but also includes the pharmaceutical and biotech industry, medical research facilities, medical device manufacturers and so on.
One of the biggest challenges that the healthcare industry faces right now is workplace violence, with frontline staff facing daily assaults.
Another challenge that the industry sees is liability issues.
If a facility is accused of causing injury to a person, then they can end up with an expensive lawsuit.
Reducing liability is therefore imperative.
ISS AI-based video analytics help to identify incidents that occur at healthcare facilities, through capabilities such as weapons or fight detection.
It allows security personnel to receive proactive notifications as fast as possible so that they can respond to and deescalate a situation.
Our analytics also have the capabilities for fall detection, so if a person has tripped and needs help, someone can be notified, and liability issues are reduced.
This helps move healthcare facilities from being reactive to more proactive and even predictive.
Another way that ISS analytics can aid healthcare facilities is through facial recognition.
For example, if an ex-employee who was recently let go arrives on site, they can be instantly recognized and security teams can be notified and monitor them, to understand whether they pose a threat.
Facial recognition can also be used for credentialing to allow or restrict access to specific areas.
License plate recognition (LPR) is another way that these analytics can be applied.
If a gunshot victim is dumped outside a hospital and the car drives off, then the information from LPR can aid law enforcement in tracking down the witnesses.
One of the main strengths of ISS is that our analytics can be layered on top of any of the current infrastructure at a healthcare organization.
What makes us stand out from our competition is that many of our analytic modules have thousands or tens of thousands of hours of training built into them, resulting in accuracy rates that meet or exceed 90% in most cases.
AI isn’t going away and we are just getting started, so we have a big focus on growing further in this industry.
We want to be the video intelligence leader and platform of choice for every hospital and healthcare system in the US.
People are increasingly embracing AI so I am very positive about our future in this sector.
This article was originally published in the July edition of Security Journal Americas. To read your FREE digital edition, click here.
