By Dan Hounsell

Facing a growing threat of workplace violence in and around their facilities, healthcare organizations are deploying a range of security strategies and tactics designed to protect patients and staffs. Is facial recognition among these tools? 

Deployments of facial recognition from AnyVision show the way the surveillance software has gained adoption across the United States even as regulatory and ethical debates about it rage. The Los Angeles hospital Cedars-Sinai and oil giant BP are among several previously unreported users of AnyVision, according to Reuters.

Cedars-Sinai's main hospital uses AnyVision facial recognition to give staff a heads-up about individuals known for violence, drug fraud or using different names at the emergency room, three sources said. Cedars said it "does not publicly discuss our security programs" and could not confirm the information.