While security departmentsare more concerned with disruptions to patient care and C-level executives are focused on hospital administrations’ understanding of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regulations, but hospital security decision-makers are focused on patients’ and officers’ safety overall.

According to a Guardian8 survey of 379 hospital decision-makers, the majority of all departments would like to have a better understanding of CMS and other regulatory agencies, and 78 percent expressed an interest in workshops with regulators to better understand industry issues.

More than half of the personnel surveyed were concerned with security officer safety, and 86 percent indicated that their hospital’s security personnel carry on-officer security devices. Most frequently carried were OC products such as pepper spray, two-way security systems or batons. Less than 30 percent are using guns, Tasers or on-officer video recording devices. Fourteen percent of officers carry no weapons or security tools.

Only 27 percent of the survey’s security personnel say the surveillance cameras around the hospital provide sufficient coverage. Sixty-six percent of survey-takers see the value in on-security recording equipment, such as officer-worn cameras or other portable surveillance tools.

The costs of adding more security is a difficult challenge for hospitals, the survey says, but only 18 percent of survey-takers reported a decrease in their hospital security budget over the past year.