Children’s of Alabama Elevates Patient and Visitor Experience with Integrated Visitor Management from Alert Enterprise
As one of the nation’s top pediatric medical centers, Children’s of Alabama serves thousands of patients and families each day. With so many individuals coming in and out of their facilities, they needed a smarter security solution in place to safeguard their people, systems and data. In 2024, the hospital partnered with Alert Enterprise to deploy a next-generation Visitor Management System (VMS) delivering seamless, secure and integrated guest experiences—all while meeting the high compliance and operational demands of modern healthcare.
The deployment marked a significant milestone for the hospital’s digital transformation, with full integration into the EPIC electronic health record (EHR) system through HL7 messaging and CorePoint.
First thing’s first: Understanding their challenges
With an average of 3,000 daily visitors, Children’s of Alabama needed more than just a digital check-in system. They needed a robust, intelligent visitor management platform that could:
- Accurately match visitors with patient appointments and room assignments
- Provide real-time access and identity verification
- Improve throughput and reduce manual overhead for staff
- Ensure regulatory compliance and security, including sex offender checks
- Seamlessly integrate with EPIC for up-to-the-minute patient data
The solution: Visitor Management by Alert Enterprise
Alert Enterprise delivered a fully integrated Visitor Management System designed for healthcare. The platform empowers Patient Guest Information Representatives (PGIRs) and hospital security teams to handle complex visitor flows with speed, flexibility and accuracy.
Fan-favorite features and use cases:
- EPIC + HL7 integration: Real-time patient data updates, including intake, discharge, room transfers and appointment status—automatically synced into the VMS for dynamic visitor assignment and access control.
- Streamlined visitor workflows: PGIRs can easily register walk-in guests, copy parent details for minor group registrations, and print paper or technology-enabled badges.
- Watchlist and background checks: Automatic cross-checking against sex offender databases using CheckrTrust ensures the safety of patients and staff.
- Smart identity verification: Support for scanning driver’s licenses, passports, military IDs and digital IDs speeds up registration while reducing data entry errors.
- Real-time reporting: Administrators gain access to powerful reports, including No-Badge Patient Reports, Visitor Check-In/Check-Out logs, and Incorrect Room Assignments—boosting operational oversight and compliance.
“The Alert Enterprise Visitor Management System has helped us bring greater efficiency and security to how we manage patient visits. With real-time integration into our EPIC system, our team can quickly match visitors with patient data, which improves both the flow of people through our facility and the experience for families. The support and collaboration with Alert Enterprise has been exceptional, and their passion for understanding healthcare operations really shows.”
Bob Sarnecki
Chief Information Security Officer, Children’s of Alabama
A new kind of healthcare experience
By integrating directly with EPIC and leveraging HL7 protocols, Alert Enterprise enabled Children’s of Alabama to create a tightly coupled, event-driven visitor experience responding to real-time changes in patient status.
Outcomes include:
- A better visitor experience with quicker check-in and accurate room matching
- Increased staff productivity thanks to automation and centralized dashboards
- Strengthened security posture due to integrated background checks and watchlist alerts
- Improved operational visibility with actionable reporting and audit trails
Long story short: safety and hospitality go hand in hand
For a pediatric facility where trust, safety and compassion are paramount, it’s critical only verified individuals have access to patient areas. The Alert Enterprise platform helps Children’s of Alabama maintain a welcoming yet secure environment—one that puts patient care and family support at the center of every visit.
More doors are opening ahead – automatically
With this successful deployment, Children’s of Alabama is positioned to scale its security and access strategy. The hospital’s leadership is already exploring future capabilities such as mobile credentialing, AI-powered anomaly detection, and broader identity governance for staff and contractors, all supported by the Alert Enterprise Guardian platform.
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