International patients: a different market with different security needs.

Different customs ... language barriers ... unfamiliarity with this country. These problems of foreign patients and the visitors that accompany them can be also cause problems for hospital security departments--especially those who fail to prepare for this growing healthcare market. According to recent articles in leading publications, the immigration boom, continuing demographic shifts in urban America, and an influx of hospital marketing campaigns aimed at affluent foreign clients have more and more healthcare organizations involved in trying to bridge the culture gap. In this report, we'll give details on how five major hospitals that actively seek foreign patients are organized to meet their security needs and relate what happened when a foreign celebrity unexpectedly became a patient at a county hospital.