Hospitals are turning to video technology to enhance patient care and safety with the rising demand for health care services and the ongoing battle against staffing shortages. However, hospitals looking to expand their video technology must ensure their surveillance systems are compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA).

Being HIPAA compliant helps protect patient privacy and safeguard sensitive health information. This is non-negotiable in today’s digital age. With the increasing adoption of health care video analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) technology, it’s more crucial than ever to strike the right balance between leveraging technology and maintaining HIPAA compliance.

HIPAA compliance in video surveillance

HIPAA extends beyond paperwork and digital records — its regulations include video surveillance and electronically protected health information (ePHI) in health care settings.

While HIPAA does not specifically address video surveillance, its requirements for privacy and security of PHI affect how it should be implemented. This means anything that could identify a patient, whether their name, medical history or face in a video, falls under HIPAA’s watchful gaze.

Now, when thinking about bolstering a hospital’s video technology, ensuring that video surveillance systems play by HIPAA’s rules is essential. This involves verifying that cameras, recording devices and any health care video analytics tools that might be used are all HIPAA-compliant.

Video analytics in health care systems must be set up in a way that protects patient privacy at every turn. Some ways include encrypting recorded footage, restricting access to authorised personnel or blurring out identifying features.

HIPAA requirements in video surveillance

The following practices help ensure video technology usage complies with HIPAA’s overarching goals:

• Limiting PHI exposure: Place video surveillance in a way that reduces the possibility of collecting PHI unless necessary for a specific, justifiable purpose. Some settings to avoid include places where PHI is likely to be accessible or discussed, such as treatment areas or screen displays.
• Access control: Access to video material should be managed and limited to authorised personnel only. This aligns with HIPAA’s mandate to create technical policies and procedures restricting ePHI access to authorised individuals.
• Encryption and security: Video data should be encrypted in transit and at rest, mainly if it could capture PHI. Encryption keys should protect against unauthorised access, tampering and loss.
• Data retention and disposal: Set up policies for video footage retention and disposal. This security measure ensures it’s kept no longer than necessary and disposed of securely to prevent unauthorised access to PHI.
• Breach notification: If a breach occurs, then facilities must reference the HIPAA Breach Notification Rule. This rule requires you to notify affected individuals, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and, in some cases, the media.
• Training and policies: Staff should be trained on proper video surveillance system usage. Additionally, you should set up policies regarding using, accessing and monitoring video surveillance to protect PHI.
• Physical safeguards: Camera placement and the physical security of the video surveillance system should be considered to prevent unauthorized viewing or tampering.

Adopt best practices for the use of video analytics

Beyond the foundational HIPAA considerations, there are additional best practices to consider. With these concerns in mind, hospital administrators can improve compliance, protect patient privacy and use video surveillance technology effectively and ethically.  Eight of the most important best practice tips to consider should include, vendor agreements, regular audits and assessments, an incident response plan, notice of privacy practices, consent and signage, state laws and regulations, integration with other security measures, and, training and awareness – proper ongoing programmes that include the importance of patient privacy and the legal requirements surrounding PHI, should be organised for staff about the proper usage of video surveillance systems

AI and HIPAA compliance in health care

Technology continuously evolves and we’ve seen increasing usage of artificial intelligence (AI). But how is AI used in health care? How is it used for video surveillance in health care settings?

Imagine having a virtual assistant that constantly watches over your video footage, analyzing it in real-time to flag any potential HIPAA violations. That’s where AI-driven analytics come in. These algorithms can automatically detect and redact sensitive information from your surveillance footage. This helps ensure that only authorised personnel can access it.

However, in addition, with AI-powered remote monitoring solutions, surveillance cameras can be monitored from anywhere, anytime, from your device. These AI solutions help streamline surveillance operations and allow for quick response to incidents or security breaches.

Health care facility’s could view an AI security system as a high-tech upgrade that can help automate compliance tasks, improve data security and streamline surveillance operations.

As many as 30% of road crashes across Europe are weather related, underscoring the challenges faced by traffic operators and drivers alike. Citilog’s Automatic Incident Detection (AID) tackles these challenges. AID is an AI-powered system that utilises deep learning algorithms trained on a massive dataset of real-world incidents, including those with adverse weather conditions.

According to Tagmaster company, Citilog, sometimes other AI incident detection systems lack this important distinction, with performance degrading in poor weather just when they are needed most. Without a way to filter out rain and snow, real incidents are missed, and false alarms can overwhelm operators.

With deep learning, the AID algorithm is trained to recognise weather and discard these non-incidents, reducing false positives by a factor of 10. This allows the system to detect real incidents quickly and accurately, such as crashes and road hazards as they happen, even when visibility is impaired.

AID provides traffic operators with real-time information about incidents through alerts and visual displays. This helps them understand the severity of the situation quickly and make informed decisions about deploying resources and managing traffic flow.

These accurate and timely incident alerts reduce the workload on operators and enable them to focus on genuine problems requiring attention. Most importantly, early detection of incidents translates to faster response times for emergency services, reducing secondary accidents and potentially saving lives.

The fraud detection and prevention market is being driven by regulatory compliance requirements, and according to Marketsandmarkets, the sector is estimated to grow to $63.2 billion by 2029 at a CAGR of 17% over that period, from $28.8 billion in 2024. With stringent regulations in place, organisations are compelled to adopt robust strategies to combat financial crimes and protect consumer interests. Compliance mitigates legal risks, and fosters trust among stakeholders, driving organizations to prioritise efforts in fraud prevention.

The adoption of fraud detection and prevention solutions has surged as organisations must adopt a multi-layered approach to combat modern fraud, which is becoming increasingly sophisticated. Key strategies include implementing advanced fraud detection technologies like AI, machine learning, behavioral analytics, and biometric verification. These provide real-time analysis, adapt to new fraud patterns, and offer more effective and user-friendly prevention. Also, strong authentication measures such as multi-factor authentication should be established to verify user identities and prevent unauthorised access. Moreover, companies should be developing a comprehensive fraud prevention policy that outlines roles, processes, and consequences while providing ongoing employee education and awareness.

Rapid increase in cloud deployments

The cloud deployment mode in fraud detection and prevention is rapidly increasing among organisations worldwide. The analysts found that this shift is driven by several factors, including the need for scalability, agility, and cost-effectiveness in combating evolving fraud threats. Cloud-based solutions offer the flexibility to scale resources dynamically, allowing organisations to handle fluctuating workloads and accommodate growing data volumes more efficiently than traditional on-premises systems. Additionally, the cloud provides accessibility from any location with internet connectivity, enabling real-time monitoring and response to fraudulent activities. Moreover, cloud deployment reduces the burden of managing and maintaining infrastructure, allowing organiaations to focus on improving fraud detection capabilities and enhancing overall security posture. Adopting cloud deployment mode in fraud detection and prevention empowers organisations to stay ahead of fraudsters while optimising resource utilisation and operational efficiency.

Geographically Asia Pacific to register strong growth

The Asia Pacific region comprises countries such as China, India, AnZ, Singapore, and Japan, leading in the FDP market. Asia Pacific region is expected to register high growth rates in the FDP market. China is the leading country in this market, with extensive adoption of FDP technology in various sectors, including BFSI, government, and healthcare. Other countries in the region, such as Japan, are also witnessing growth in the FDP market. Various factors, such as internal and external regulations and the growing focus of different industries to get a unified view of risk, are expected to contribute to market growth. Factors such as increasing compliances, internet usage, regulations, and increasing digitalisation are the significant factors fueling the adoption of FDP solutions.

Dean Drako, Eagle Eye Networks Founder and CEO, has won the Ernst & Young (EY) Entrepreneur Of The Year 2024 Gulf South Award. Entrepreneur Of The Year is the prestigious business awards programme for entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies.

Under Drako’s leadership, Eagle Eye Networks has achieved significant growth in video surveillance industry and helped businesses worldwide enhance security and operational efficiency through cloud, advanced AI and analytics.

Eagle Eye Networks has made notable advancements in AI technology, including its award-winning, AI-powered Smart Video Search and License Plate Recognition, and its newly launched 911 camera sharing, which has already won two awards recognizing its positive impact on public safety and emergency response.

“Receiving this award is a tremendous honour and a testament to the hard work and dedication of the entire Eagle Eye Networks team,” said Dean Drako, Founder and CEO of Eagle Eye Networks. “We remain committed to pushing the boundaries of the cloud video surveillance industry with our AI features, delivering exceptional value to our customers, and positively impacting the world.”

Drako founded Eagle Eye Networks in 2012. He is also Chairman of cloud access control leader Brivo, and Chairman of enterprise security automation leader Cobalt AI. Previously, Drako was founder, president and CEO of Barracuda Networks, where he created the IT security industry’s first spam filter appliance, growing the company from its inception in 2003 through 2012 to more than 140 products and 150,000 customers.

An independent judging panel of previous award winners, leading CEOs and other business leaders selected Drako. Candidates were evaluated based on their ability to create long-term value through entrepreneurial spirit, commitment to their purpose and the demonstration of growth and substantial impact, among other key indicators.

As a Gulf South award winner, Drako will be considered for the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2024 National Awards. The National Award winners, including the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner, will be announced in November at the Strategic Growth Forum, one of the nation’s most prestigious gatherings of high-growth, market-leading companies. The Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner will then move on to compete for the World Entrepreneur Of The Year Award in June 2025.

Entrepreneur Of The Year recognises many different types of business leaders for their ingenuity, courage and entrepreneurial spirit. The programme celebrates original founders who bootstrapped their business from inception or who raised outside capital to grow their company; transformational CEOs who infused innovation into an existing organisation to catapult its trajectory; and multigenerational family business leaders who reimagined a legacy business model to fortify it for the future.

In a move to modernise its service, the Environment Agency (EA) has chosen Leidos, a Fortune 500 company that creates smart technology solutions for customers in heavily regulated industries, with support from Intersec, a global leader in telecom metadata and location intelligence solutions, to deliver a new flood warning system for

England.

The current system has been a cornerstone of the EAs flood warning service for twenty years, but with technology rapidly advancing, the decision to integrate Intersec’s cutting-edge early warning and alerting technology as part of Leidos’ solution for their Next Warning Service demonstrates the EA’s ongoing commitment to improve England’s resilience to flooding.

The solution will help enhance the EA’s flood warning capabilities, providing internal end-users with an array of powerful situational awareness tools, including advanced geographic layers and precise mapping, all within a user-friendly interface based on the Intersec application.

“This collaboration will not only streamline field operations but also enable the swift dissemination of location-based alerts through multiple contact channels, empowering communities and highlighting our commitment to leveraging technology for the greater good,” said Yann Chevalier, Chief Executive Officer at Intersec.

Crucially, the solution is designed to be deployed in a highly scalable cloud environment, ensuring that it can readily accommodate future product enhancements for the service. The new service is due to be fully operational in 2025.

Verkada, a pioneer in cloud-based physical security solutions, is expanding operations to Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (DACH) under the leadership of Benjamin Krebs. This expansion comes as Verkada is seeing strong sales and partner growth across EMEA.

“Today, more than 24,000 customers across 85 countries trust Verkada as their safety solution,” said Eric Salava, Chief Revenue Officer at Verkada. “Establishing operations in the DACH region, which represents the largest economy in Europe, is a natural next step as we continue to grow internationally.”

Starting today, Verkada’s Command platform and website are available in German, providing German-speaking customers with full access to Verkada’s solutions and services in their native language so that they have the necessary resources to make informed security decisions.

“The DACH region is renowned for its unwavering commitment to both cyber and physical security,” said Benjamin Krebs, Managing Director, DACH at Verkada. “Customers across the region are looking for fully integrated security solutions that provide intelligent insights to keep their organisation safe in a privacy-sensitive way. As cloud-based physical security becomes the industry standard, I am looking forward to working with our growing team, customers, and partner network to help more organisations across the DACH region keep the communities they live and work in safe.”

Since its inception in 2016, Verkada has maintained an impressive growth trajectory. Today the company has nearly 2,000 employees across 16 offices globally. Currently, Verkada is recruiting across EMEA and is seeking talented individuals for roles such as account executives and solutions engineers.

Allegion plc, a leading global security products and solutions provider, has acquired Unicel Architectural.

Based in Quebec, Canada, Unicel Architectural is a leading North American manufacturer of advanced glass, timber and aluminum building solutions that support privacy, safety, energy efficiency and sustainability. The Unicel Architectural portfolio is primarily sold across Canada and the U.S. and installed in healthcare, education, government and other non-residential facilities.

Unicel Architectural will operate as part of the Allegion Americas segment, led by Allegion Senior Vice President Dave Ilardi.

“Unicel Architectural is a natural extension of Allegion’s core business, especially in institutional markets. This strategic combination will strengthen our portfolio of solutions and expand our specification capabilities,” Ilardi said. “Together, we will provide meaningful differentiation for customers with more comprehensive offerings.”

Unicel Architectural Co-Presidents Samuel Doyon-Bissonnette and Vincent Couturier are joining Allegion and will serve as leaders for Unicel Architectural within the Allegion Americas non-residential business, supporting a smooth transition and helping drive accelerated growth.

“Like Allegion and its brands, Unicel Architectural is a category inventor and market leader, recently celebrating 60 years of serving customers,” said Doyon-Bissonnette. “Combined, we’ll create more value for architects and other channel partners as trusted advisors on projects who help meet end-user needs.”

“We’ve had a long-standing partnership with Allegion brands Technical Glass Products, AD Systems and Stanley Access Technologies. This is an exciting evolution of our work together – one that means our customers can expect even more premium products and experiences,” Couturier added.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.