FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Alex Burgess
415-931-6337
alex@elmexchange.com

Education in Legal Medicine Delivers Over 20,000 Courses in 2004
New customers, contract renewals and learning experience results in increased course completion

Rockville, MD – February 15, 2005 - Education in Legal Medicine (ELM ), the leading provider of Internet-based risk management education for the healthcare industry, today announced that over 20,000 courses had been successfully completed by the end of 2004, representing a more than 300% increase in course participation from the previous year. 

Central to this expansion is the learning experience enjoyed by course participants and the effect of their feedback on current ELM customers, as well as prospective ones.  95% of survey participants felt the courses were applicable in their daily practice, with 95% of the participants also reporting they appreciated the freedom to take these classes on their own time at their own pace via the web, as opposed to being compelled to take time away from their patients to sit in a traditional classroom setting.

 “2004 was an outstanding year for us. Our clients, by definition, are proactive in addressing the medical malpractice crisis and its effect on their physicians. But, physicians are busy people, and education about risk concerns puts a strain on their schedules, so they are not necessarily eager participants in the beginning. Therefore, we were excited to hear the average participant rated our courses a 7.6 out of 10 in effectiveness, particularly considering that most of our clients mandate the courses for their physicians, ” said Shara Cohen, VP of Operations.  “So, while our new clients hire us because they want to be more effective in their risk management, we are able to maintain those relationships and grow with new clients because the physician participants are satisfied and well-serviced.”

Throughout the year, all existing ELM customers either maintained or extended their subscriber licenses, while the acquisition of new accounts increased ELM's client roster by over 100%. New customers sited physician feedback, the clinical focus of courses, as well as the ease of implementation and customization to be the key factors in their decision to select ELM to provide their risk management education programs.

"After reviewing the available products from risk management educators, we selected ELM for two primary reasons customization and relevance. Their courses were the most applicable to our physicians' daily practice and they have the ability to customize additional courses to our claims experience," said Samia Amamoo, Assistant Vice President, Risk Management for Evanston Northwestern Healthcare. "No other vendor could provide both the depth of topics and work with us for the customization we require. ELM could do it quickly and easily."

"Originally, we selected ELM because their course materials mirrored the challenges our physicians faced in their daily practice," said Dr. Laura Forese, VP and Chief Medical Officer, New York Presbyterian. "Over the years, ELM has exceeded my expectations in being responsive to my needs and those of my physicians. Judging by the feedback we have received from our doctors, we made the right choice in partnering with ELM to provide effective educational programs."

ELM's courses and their online delivery have been developed to meet the specific needs of both program administrators and the health care provider. The ELM curriculum is case-based and uses real-life clinical situations to address fundamental legal principles as well as specialty specific concerns. ELM courses offer substantive content, progress testing, targeted feedback, and real-time reporting to raise the level of clinicolegal awareness of physicians and healthcare professionals. Additionally, ELM's delivery platform provides healthcare organizations with a means to document their risk management and patient safety efforts.

About Education in Legal Medicine
For more than 15 years, Education in Legal Medicine (ELM) has provided a unified curriculum for health care providers aimed at lowering the risk of compensable harm to patients. Successfully completed by over 25,000 providers in every medical specialty, ELM coursework is a proven, substantive curriculum that provides administrators with a solution to addressing risk and liability within their organizations. The ELM curriculum provides health care providers with a CME alternative not bound by geographic or time constraints. ELM courseware is currently in use in many of top medical facilities in the country, including New York Presbyterian, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Yale-New Haven Hospital, Westchester Medical Center, and the SUNY system.