Risk Management Issue

Risk management is the most important part of any organization to face the risks that might arise when a new project started. It should be a first concern when the decision is being made. Risk management is the practice of looking at the exposure to risk and deciding how to best handle that exposure. The idea behind risk management is to decide if the benefit outweighs the risk. This process will help you to identify risks that might normally be overlooked so when things come up, they do not surprise you by having a plan in place on how to solve them.

Risk management would help to identify and then manage threats that could severely impact or bring down the organization. This could be done by reviewing operations of the organization, identifying potential threats to the organization and the likelihood of their occurrence, and then taking appropriate actions to address the most likely threats (McNamara, C., 1999).

Risk management also explores strategies to assess organization's susceptibility to risk. It minimizes adverse impacts of operational risk, market risk, and credit risk on resources, earnings, and cash flows through risk analysis. Organizations should regularly undertake comprehensive, focused assessment of potential risks to the organization. This focused assessment should occur at least twice a year by a team of staff members representing all the major functions of the organization. The assessment should be carefully planned, documented and methodically carried out. Healthcare organizations and facilities are among these organizations, which could benefit from well-implemented risk management.

Healthcare organizations are among those organizations that face many risks associated with their operations. Long-term care (LTC) facilities are one of them.

The long-term care industry is in a state of crisis across the nation. An alarming number of states are experiencing dramatic increases for general liability and professional liability (GL/PL) coverage. A recent study, commissioned by the American Health Care Association, found that 14 of the 16 states analyzed experienced double-digit annual increases in their GL/PL costs over the past decade, with a majority of them experiencing loss cost trends in excess of 25 percent (Bourdon, T., 2005).

LTC facilities are facing broad-range risks such as reducing medical errors, patients' safety, complying with government program like HIPAA, staying on top of developing legislation and regulations and making them work to facility's benefit. The major management risks the LTC facilities are based in respecting and protecting elders. According to the United States Census Bureau's projections on aging, more than 40 million U.S. citizens will be of retirement age by 2010, including approximately 6.1 million who will be 85 years old or older. It was projected by the government that some 86.7 million Americans will be 65 and above and 20.9 million will be 85 or older by 2050 (Cheese man, 2001). Many of these people will enter eldercare facilities, extended care facilities, and independent living facilities. As the U.S. population ages, and more people reside in long-term-care facilities, security professionals must learn to assess and address the unique risks of these facilities.

There are many types of long-term care facilities such as independent living or congregant care, assisted living, sub-acute nursing, acute care, and finally hospice. It is often that these care options are provided by a single organization on a single campus. Whether the LTC facility offers some or all of these care options, the first step in developing appropriate security is a thought risk assessment. The key is for management to act proactively. They should not wait for an incident to occur before conducting an assessment. The administrators of these facilities are beginning to place the proper priority on security.

Each long-term care facility has its own unique security needs depending on its location and surroundings. Four points have to be assessed to determine a facility's unique security needs. They are: perimeters and access controls to protect residents from the outside world, internal security to protect residents from threats within the facility, measures to protect residents who cannot protect themselves or are a danger to themselves, and measures to protect caregivers and loved ones.

LTC facility could protect residents from the dangers of the outside world by having adequate controls securing the perimeter and managing access to buildings and grounds. It is important to find out geographical risks and area's crime trends. The grounds assessment should include existing lighting, fencing, landscaping, and natural surveillance. LTC could also protect their residents by using interior patrols, front desk management, sing-in, and badging.

Elements to consider when assessing threats within LTC environment include current employee recruitment processes, screening, and background checks, and supervision of employees. The demand for entry-level resident care and custodial workers is high. Staff turnover in these jobs is also high, and some organizations have chosen to reduce costs by cutting back on references checks that provide vitally important information about potential employees. These organizations could be under negative publicity when incidents or accidents occur.

Another concern is the treat that residents may pose to one another. This issue could be addressed by patient background screening program similar to employee preemployment screening. Checking resident's background could be controversial because it could be used against the future resident. This process should be done only for providing information that is many to ensure the safety of that resident, other residents, visitors, and staff.

Many LTC residents are not a risk to others, but to themselves. Two significant risk issues are wandering and elopement. Many residents at LTC suffer from diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, dementia, and other neurological impairments placing them at high risk once they leave the care environment. These types of wanderers have ended up injured or dead. A vehicle, overexposure to heat or cold, drowning, or traumatic injuries resulting from physical or sexual abuse were the primary causes of death in these cases (Boxerbaum, Donaldson, 2005, p. 47). The use of wandering-patient tracking technologies, elopement-prevention strategies and response planning and training including coordination with local police, fire, and emergency medical service officials could reduce the risk for wandering and elopement. Providing photographs of resident identified at high risk for elopement to the security of the facility could reduce the elopement incident rate as well. The facility should have a clear response plan, which