Minnesota health system considers switch to private security

Executives at Minneapolis-based Hennepin Healthcare and local officials are divided over the system's decision to end its security contract with local law enforcement at the end of the year and potentially arm its in-house security force, according to the Star Tribune.

Here are four things to know:

1. Hennepin Healthcare leadership and county officials are at odds over the system's decision to end its security contract with local police. The system hired the sheriff's office to begin providing security in August 2014. This year, the hospital spent roughly $334,137 on its security contract, according to the report.

2. The hospital reportedly decided this summer to end its security contract by the end of the year. The decision has prompted concern from some officials, who claim the decision will make the hospital less secure and expose the system to civil liability and heightened regulatory scrutiny if a security guard were to shoot a gun on hospital grounds.

"[Security guards] don't have any more authority than a citizen. The only difference is they may be wearing a uniform and they may be carrying a gun — which, any time you introduce a gun into a situation, it's a whole other set of circumstances and problems," outgoing Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek told the Star Tribune in an interview.

3. Jon Pryor, MD, CEO of Hennepin Healthcare, said he "wholeheartedly disagrees," claiming that the hospital environment would be safer relying on hospital security, who are more familiar with healthcare staff and patients than local police officers. Not all hospital security officers would be armed, Dr. Pryor added.

"What I would say is there's less of a chance that one of our security officers is going to shoot somebody because our security knows our patients, knows our staff," he said.

4. Dr. Pryor said the health system is still weighing its options for security. Hennepin Healthcare currently employs 43 security officers and seven uniformed managers, a hospital spokesperson told the Star Tribune.

To access the full report, click here.

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