Health Care Notification Network Offers CME Credit for Online Safety Alerts

(San Francisco, CA) – July 23, 2009 – Continuing Medical Education (CME) credit is now available for physicians and physician assistants via the Health Care Notification Network (HCNN). Eligible medical professionals who choose to participate in the online HCNN CME program will receive 1 full AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ upon completion of four HCNN CME courses.

The HCNN CME Course Objectives are designed to improve patient safety, which can help to reduce medical liability. Upon completion of an approved course activity, participants should be able to both describe an FDA alert which was received electronically and prepare notifications to affected patients in a timely manner.

The online HCNN CME course is conducted in partnership with the Texas Medical Association (TMA), which is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians. The online course can help physicians stay current with both the Maintenance of Certification (MOC) and CME requirements that pertain to individual medical specialties.

Each course offers one-quarter credit, which are processed as a single full credit through TMA’s Online Store. The nominal cost to process one full credit is $25, and credits earned yet not processed will expire two years after a related course is completed.

The HCNN is the online product safety Alert network that replaces the widely criticized, slow and decades-old system of delivering Dear Health Care Professional (DHCP)-letters to prescribers via U.S. mail. TMA is one of more than a hundred health care industry partners that support the immediate online delivery of drug and medical device warnings via the HCNN.

For more information about online HCNN CME courses, visit www.hcnn.net.

###

About the Health Care Notification Network (HCNN)
The HCNN is the online service that delivers important product-related, FDA-mandated Patient Safety Alerts to physicians and other healthcare professionals via secure email. Currently, these alerts (also known as "Dear Doctor Letters" or "Dear Health Care Professional Letters") are sent to physicians on paper via traditional U.S. mail – a slow, error-prone process. The HCNN may also be used to notify physicians in the event of national public health emergencies or bio-terror events. The network is governed by the not-for-profit iHealth alliance with network operations provided by Medem, Inc.

About the iHealth Alliance
The iHealth Alliance is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to protect the interests of patients and providers as healthcare increasingly moves online. The iHealth Alliance governs the Health Care Notification Network (HCNN) and ensures that the network is used only for patient safety alerts. The iHealth Alliance is chaired by Nancy W. Dickey, MD, past President of the AMA, and both President of the Health Science Center and Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs for Texas A&M University. The Board of Directors is comprised of industry leaders from medical societies, liability carriers, patient advocacy groups and others dedicated to protecting the interest of patients and providers.

Press Contact
Jason Willett
HCNN
(415) 644-3926 / press@hcnn.net