More than 5,000 hospitals provide health care to more than a million Americans each day; therefore, it is crucial that Congress ensure that hospitals have the resources needed to enhance security and protect against the threat of violent crime and terrorist attack. Hospitals are no less vulnerable to such incidents than are port facilities, public transit systems and other components of our nation’s critical infrastructure that receive substantial federal grant dollars for physical and electronic security needs.

Through its work with security professionals at countless hospitals and healthcare facilities, Security Industry Association (SIA) members understand the challenges hospitals face in acquiring additional resources to protect their environments. This is why SIA has developed a legislative proposal that would strengthen the security budgets of thousands of hospitals across the nation.

The “Securing America’s Hospitals Act of 2009” would authorize a new federal grant program for hospitals to use to fund physical and electronic security improvements. This legislation is modeled on the Port Security Grant Program that was codified under the SAFE Port Act and the Public Transportation Security Assistance grant program established by Congress in 2007.

Under this program, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would oversee the distribution of funds to be used for the acquisition, installation or use of security technology — including access control systems, identification credentials, bomb detection devices, video surveillance cameras, locking devices and mass annunciation systems. Grant awards would be limited to $100,000 annually so that a maximum number of hospitals, regardless of geographic location or bed size, could receive assistance. The federal share of each award would be contingent on the size of the project.

Congressional leaders, though, are not certain which federal agency should manage the program, and this has contributed to the delay in consideration of the proposal. Some members of Congress and healthcare stakeholders have suggested that the program should be administered by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), as it manages similar grant programs for port and transit systems. Other interested parties feel that the program is best administered by HHS, since it is more familiar with the unique challenges faced by hospitals and healthcare facilities.