Online Continuing Medical Education (CME) will supplement traditional methods in the future, according to Health Industries Research Companies' (HIRC) Summer 2001 eHealthRx Service.

The ten companies listed in the report are:

CE Medicus
CMEweb
Cyberounds
HealthStream
MedCases
Medscape
mypatient.com
Virtual Lecture Hall
WebMD
World Medical Leaders

"The vast majority of CME credits are still obtained today through traditional methods; however, during the past few years, there has been an upward trend in the percentage of CME credits being obtained through online activities," according to Dr. Orin Goldblum, the author of the report.

"Since the mid-1990s, several trends have converged, leading to the appearance and increase in CME being delivered online. These include the popularity of distance learning, changes in physician learning from lecture-centric to interactive modalities and the growing use of the Internet by physicians themselves," stated Dr. Goldblum. Popular forms of online CME include: Case-Based, Guideline-Based, Question & Answer, Slides & Streaming Audio, Slides, Streaming Audio & Video-on-Demand, Text & Graphics, and Text-Only.

Firms were chosen for the `Top Ten' listing based on revenues, market share, technological promise, and other feedback from the marketplace to HIRC analysts. Company-specific information includes estimated users, specialties or topics, functional metrics, and pharmaceutical company sponsorships. Data contained in HIRC's Summer 2001 eHealthRx report was provided directly by company principals.

The Online CME report is published as an appendix to HIRC's eHealthRx Service, which is available to pharmaceutical manufacturers. For more information on this Service and others offered by Health Industries Research, please visit www.hirc.com or contact Josh Mader at 831/426-5283, or via e-mail at jmader@hirc.com jmader@hirc.com. Questions regarding the Online CME report can be directed directly to Dr. Orin Goldblum at ogoldblum@hirc.com.ogoldblum@hirc.com