Enhancing Hospital Security with Vector Flow’s HIPAA-Compliant VIM Solutions
With ever-increasing compliance restrictions, healthcare Visitor Management System (VMS) buyers—from IT teams to security leaders—are struggling to find a solution that can do it all. For example, a VMS solution may be HIPAA compliant but does not perform key visitor management functions such as badge printing or touchless visitor check in. Or it provides a seamless visitor experience but is not HIPAA compliant. Perhaps it can do both but fails to integrate with existing Physical Access Control Systems (PACS) and other enterprise business systems, therefore requiring an additional infrastructure investment.
To find a solution that can do it all, let’s first define today’s visitor management solutions and examine how HIPAA standards relate to such solutions.
What are HIPPA Complaint VIM Solutions?
First, VMS and Visitor Identity Management (VIM) are often used interchangeably, but a VIM solution is designed specifically for centralized management of visitors throughout their lifecycle across an enterprise. This may differ slightly from VMS solutions that function as standalone software or kiosks, however, VIM solutions generally take a more holistic approach to visitor management for higher levels of security and oversight – both essential in a healthcare setting.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, “is a federal law that required the creation of national standards to protect sensitive patient health information from being disclosed without the patient’s consent or knowledge.”
HIPAA-compliant VIM solutions therefore refer to software systems and processes designed to manage and secure the identity and access of visitors within healthcare enterprises while adhering to the strict privacy and security standards mandated by HIPAA, including:
- HIPAA Privacy Rule: Manages the use and disclosure of individuals’ health information, ensuring confidentiality and granting patients control over their data. The Privacy Rule applies to HIPAA-covered entities and aims to safeguard patient information while facilitating the necessary flow of data for high-quality healthcare service delivery.
- HIPAA Security Rule: Sets standards for ensuring the confidentiality and integrity of electronic protected health information (ePHI), including measures for data security and physical access.
- HIPAA Breach Notification Rule: Mandates the reporting of breaches involving unsecured PHI, ensuring prompt notification to affected individuals and regulatory authorities.
Vector Flow’s HIPPA Complaint VIM Solution
Vector Flow’s Patient-VMS was designed specifically for the healthcare and hospital industry to improve the visitor and patient experience with a HIPAA-compliant solution empowered through automation of policies, notifications, and caregivers’ safety. Vector Flow’s advanced, intelligent Patient-VMS system provides a strong defense against visitor or family-related violence, abductions, data breaches, thefts, and physical violence.
The Patient-VMS solution is mobile-enabled, supports multiple self-service kiosk features, and ensures that all visitors are properly vetted before allowing access to the healthcare facility. This allows the facility or hospital the flexibility to control their environment, set up policies and procedures as their environment changes, limit the visitors per patient/floor/unit, and allow approved visitors to patients or in-patients to quickly check in with a QR code.
Vector Flow’s Patient VIM solution enables hospitals to ensure all visitors and family members are properly checked in per the hospital’s policies to see a patient. The integration with the hospital EHR system such as EPIC or Cerner is critical to managing the inpatient and outpatient data, admits and discharges, and security restrictions or limitations to specific patients. A patient’s protection of privacy is managed and enforced within the Vector Flow application in real-time, allowing enhanced security measures for visitors to that patient. Seamless integration is key. Per each hospital, specific visitor guidelines need to be followed, with the Vector Flow solution the hospital can require visitors to acknowledge and accept rules before a visitor receives access to a patient.
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Business Outcomes of Vector Flow’s Patient-VMS
- HIPAA Compliance: The linchpin of Vector Flow’s Patient-VMS is its strict adherence to HIPAA and its privacy and security standards. The system ensures that patients’ protected health information remains secure and accessible only to authorized personnel.
- EHR Systems Integration: By integrating with leading EHR systems (Epic, Cerner, etc.), Vector Flow’s Patient-VMS provides a comprehensive view of visitor information, including any health screening data, within a centralized and secured system. It also eliminates the need for manual data entry and reduces the risk of errors or information discrepancies.
- Swift Check-in Process: Vector Flow’s Patient-VMS offers visitors a touchless visitor experience through QR codes on mobile phones or kiosks. Within seconds, the system verifies visitor documents, including health screening information, and checks for any restrictions. The swift check-in process ensures that only authorized and healthy individuals gain access.
- Portal for Patients/Visitors: Vector Flow’s Patient-VMS puts the power of visitor management into the hands of patients themselves, allowing them to add details, set visit parameters, and control permissions for visiting friends and family. This streamlined approach enables fast and approved access, as visitors can complete pre-visit formalities such as health screening questionnaires and document uploads.
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- Real-time Notifications: Vector Flow’s real-time notifications enhance overall security and ensure a smooth visitation process by sending notifications for visit-related activities, safety instructions, and walk-in visits.
- Visitor Watchlists & Alerts: If any visitor matching a watchlist identity is detected, alerts can be sent immediately to reception officers who can allow or deny access to flagged visitors. The system will also alert to or not allow a visit to be created if a visitor has reached the maximum allowable number of visits or fails to meet provided visitor policies.
- Access Control & ID Badge Printing: Vector Flow’s systems provide necessary access permissions to visitors based on the visitor type, patient/host’s location, and required access for each visitor. Identification badges can also be printed remotely, on-site, or even at kiosks, which decreases waiting time at the reception desk. Security teams can suspend or terminate badges and associated access—either for a specific period or permanently— whenever the need arises.
- Integrations: For ease of deployment, Vector Flow’s Patient-VMS is designed to seamlessly integrate with leading PACS and various vendor/contractor systems. The Patient-VMS can receive information from different business systems to process patient visitor management information quickly and easily, all while maintaining HIPAA compliance.
Ensure Compliance and Deliver an Exceptional Visitor Experience
Vector Flow’s Patient-VMS is a HIPAA-compliant visitor identity management solution that has already revolutionized hospital security and visitor experience in some of the largest health systems in the US. With its intelligent features, real-time capabilities, and commitment to privacy, it sets a new standard in safeguarding patient information while ensuring a seamless and secure visitor experience.
Learn more about Vector Flow’s Patient-VMS solution here or contact us to book a demo.
