Children's Hospital Tightens Security With Photo-ID Visitor Passes
By John Ostapkovich
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- As an upgrade to its security, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia is now asking all visitors to present a photo ID.
No one incident prompted the change, says CHOP's Rachel Bidlow-Leone, although she says it's been a trend especially among children's hospitals to prioritize patient safety the way they do patient health.
She says visitors now go to the Welcome Desk, present a driver's license, school ID, passport, or similar form of identification.
"We're going to scan it into our system and take a picture, and it's going to be present on your visitor badge," she explains, "so instead of just having your name on your visitor badge now we'll have your picture and your name, which will help us better identify who your are in relation to the patient."
Those without photo ID will have a picture taken for the visitor badge.
Biblow-Leone says patient families were consulted in the design of the program to make sure it fit their needs.
