07 Apr Merge Healthcare to help bring medical imaging to underserved
Milwaukee – Merge Healthcare announced that it will donate $1 million over the next two years to the World Health Imaging Alliance, a non-profit group that brings low-cost, sustainable imaging to underserved communities.
The Milwaukee company’s donation will include staff time, software licenses, donated hardware and cash. The firm has also been developing its MergeBox product for use in this market.
“Basic x-ray imaging is often absent at primary-level health facilities,” Mladen Poluta, director of the Healthcare Technology Management Program at the University of Cape Town and WHIA board member, explained in a company press release. “Patients suffering from trauma, abdominal disease, cancer and infections such as pneumonia, are then referred to other facilities for an x-ray. Early diagnosis and treatment can, in many instances, be life-saving. Medical imaging can make the difference.”
According to Justin Dearborn, Merge Healthcare CEO, the alliance needs a new tool for image management
“For example, a clinic in a developing community needs to be able to send images out for interpretation immediately, so that the patient can be treated in near real time. They also need a method of disguising any hardware components from theft. On top of this complexity, they need an easy to use system that can be installed and maintained with minimal support,” stated Dearborn. “With our long history in medical imaging software development and our legacy in connectivity, Merge is the perfect partner to work with WHIA on this.”
Meanwhile, the company also said it added two products to its managed services line. Fusion Hosted RIS/PACS and Fusion Hosted PACS are new “software as a service” solutions that provide a pay-per-study way healthcare organizations to add efficient digital environment for patient images and information.
Merge Healthcare employs some 260 people, about 60 people in West Allis. They company works on solutions for radiology practices, outpatient imaging centers, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and device makers.