Healthcare facilities count on Convergint Technologies to cost-effectively manage physical access for employees, contractors, tenants, and visitors directly within physical access control systems. Convergint integrates existing IT systems with disparate building systems to increase situational awareness, mitigate risk, and maintain compliance.
One of Convergint’s premium healthcare partners is Quantum Secure, part of HID Global. Quantum Secure is a leader in providing solutions for managing identities and provisioning access in physical security infrastructure. Subject matter expert Janette Andler Evans, Senior Director of Strategic Sales at Quantum Secure, discusses security solutions and healthcare trends.
Tell us about your professional background.
I joined Quantum Secure in 2009 as the Sales Director, with a focus on physical identity & access management (PIAM), visitor identity management (VIM), and contractor management software. These solutions impact the way customers do business, reduce security risks, and truly manage provisioning and de-provisioning of employees’ access rights and privileges. The last few years my focus has been on the healthcare industry, understanding customers’ challenges and needs specific to healthcare facilities.
What do you think are some of the most common security problems in the healthcare vertical?
From a security perspective, the healthcare industry is a very complex environment. Challenges include a generally open campus, multiple buildings and floors, and open parking garages. Emotions run high in hospitals, and security staff encounter high stressful situations where patients, visitors, physicians, and nurses are faced with dangerous individuals. In addition, specific floors need a higher level of security, such as the neonatal intensive care unit, labor and delivery unit, women’s facilities, behavioral health facilities, and children’s hospitals. Many multiple access permissions are needed as well – from visitors, contractors, employees, medical students, nursing staff, contracting nursing staff, construction contractors, pharmaceutical vendors, and equipment manufactures.
How can these solutions positively impact a hospital’s way of doing business?
The right solutions can impact a hospital’s way of doing business in the following ways:
- Improve efficiencies regarding badging and credentialing process for new hires, employees, contractors, and visitors.
- Reduce security risks through automation of vetting and validation of employee access and approvals.
- Decrease instances of individuals having the incorrect access to data centers and patient information.
- Create cost savings from not having to replace existing access control systems, and implement a centralized platform to manage badges.
- Cost avoidance of hiring more staff to make sure the hospital is within compliance.
How would you describe a typical healthcare facility solution set up with Quantum Secure solutions?
Healthcare facilities with Quantum Secure’s SAFE for Healthcare solution tend to stretch across multiple key areas with specific solution suites to manage all types of identities within the organization. SAFE is a premium enterprise solution that integrates with existing security infrastructure and makes meaningful and highly functional use of what’s already there. It serves as an automated and efficient physical identity and access management tool – by improving access rights, access requests, access approvals, and terminations across the entire organization.
What size of healthcare facilities can benefit from these solutions?
Small children’s hospitals to large healthcare facilities will benefit from our healthcare solutions. They are scaled to fit all sizes. Our software is based on multiple factors – number of required integrations, number of managed ID profiles, number of contractors with active credentials, and more. Most importantly, a healthcare facility is able to start with a baseline solution and grow and expand as needed.
What benefits do you think a healthcare facility receives when partnering with Quantum Secure and Convergint on security?
Working with Quantum Secure and Convergint provides customers with a best-in-class solution, software provider, and an experienced security integration partner who understands healthcare better than anyone. Convergint has significant expertise within the vertical, as a large healthcare customer base entrusts them to offer the latest and greatest security solutions. Quantum Secure is the market leader in physical identity and access management technology for healthcare industry. Convergint and Quantum Secure together provide the perfect partnership for healthcare facilities.