MILWAUKEE – Healthcare IT vendors lose millions of dollars each year due in improperly licensed or pirated software. And in these difficult economic times, that could mean the difference between staying afloat and going under.
Merge Healthcare, a West Allis, Wis.-based provider of medical imaging software, is seeking to round up the estimated tens of thousands of illegal or unlicensed copies of its eFilm Workstation software. The company has launched a Web site and amnesty program in hopes of getting healthcare providers to comply with license requirements.
“We want to be sure that we’re protecting our clients and the patients they treat,” said Nancy Koenig, president of Merge’s Fusion division.
Merge’s eFilm Workstation allows clinicians to view digital MRI, CT, X-ray and other images. The company modifies and enhances the software as needed, and those updates are provided to licensed customers. Since debuting in 2003, company officials say more than 100,000 copies of the software have been downloaded from the Merge Web site.
According to Koenig and Phil Desrude, director of Merge’s eFilm business, healthcare providers with unlicensed copies of the software won’t get the updates, and “their ability to diagnose patients and treat patients can be impaired.”
Under the Authentic eFilm Software Amnesty Program, users of eFilm Workstation can access the Web site, www.authenticefilm.com, to determine if their software is properly licensed. If a healthcare provider is using pirated versions, shared software, multiple installations or expired licenses, they can purchase a license without penalty through the end of this year. Annual licenses cost $950, including support services.
Koenig and Justin Dearborn, Merge Healthcare’s CEO, said most clinicians using unlicensed software probably don’t even know they’re using it illegally.
“We don’t believe that the clinician community is in the business of using pirated content,” Koenig said.
Merge Healthcare has joined the Software & Information Industry Association, the principal trade association for the software and digital content industry, which works with members to thwart software piracy.
According to Keith Kupferschmid, senior vice president of the SIIA’s Intellectual Property Policy & Enforcement division, the use of unlicensed software is “a huge issue” in the healthcare field, where lives could be placed at risk if a healthcare provider isn’t using properly licensed software.
“Our job is not to punish people,” he said. The organization’s advice he said, is “get educated, get smart and get legal.”