VERO BEACH, FL – Healthcare providers looking to control waste and protect sensitive data are turning to a monitoring program to keep tabs on their employees.

SpectorSoft, based in Vero Beach, Fla., offers a range of Web-based services designed to monitor the computer workstations of employees, charting everything from the Web sites they visit to how much time they spend using an application.

"We ave one story after another of very highly aid doctors abusing the Internet," said Doug Taylor, SpectorSoft's director of marketing.

Designed about 10 years ago to help parents monitor their children's computer use, SpectorSoft's products were developed for corporate use  -  including schools, government facilities and ealthcare ettings  -  about ix years ago. The company's signature product, Spector 360, was released three years ago.

According to Taylor, SpectorSoft software is loaded into each computer and masked so that it can't be located by the user. The software generates reports on each computer that can be accessed on a dashboard by supervisors in real time.

Aside from identifying wasteful, personal or illegal Web surfing  -  a recent Gartner analysis indicates employees spend, on average, one hour of each work day on personal Web surfing  -  Taylor says SpectorSoft allows healthcare providers to monitor time spent in a particular program, identify who's doing what with sensitive data and determine when and for how long employees use their computers. Searches can be set up to identify sites visited or keywords (such as "confidential," "resume" and "sports") used.

"If we can regain just 10 minutes of that personal time, if we add that up over the course of a year, that's a full work week saved," he said.

Don Deas, IT manager for GI & Associates Endoscopy Center in Jackson, Miss., said management consulted with an attorney and their employees before installing the software.

"Obviously, there is a 'big brother' aspect to this, but we made it very clear from the beginning that the equipment and the network were company property, and we were going to monitor, and there was very little negative reaction to it," he said. "We try not to over use this with the employees, only confronting them with evidence when there is a serious breach of policy, so they don't feel it is being thrown in their face every day.  Employees were a little reluctant at first, but now everyone realizes what we are looking for, and they aren't afraid to go online the check the weather or their home Web mail. They just know not to spend all day there."

Taylor said most businesses implementing SpectorSoft see quick returns: A reduction in wasteful computer use or company time spent on personal pursuits. In many cases, he said, just knowing the software is in place acts as a deterrent.

Meas said his company doesn't necessarily target personal transgressions, but is concerned with protecting healthcare information and improving healthcare delivery.

"Our emphasis with this software has mostly focused on productivity and security," he said.  "We monitor transfers to removable media to make sure that patient data is not leaving the premises, and double check confidential charts to make sure that they are not being accessed by people with no need, etc."