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Archive for the ‘Continuing Education’ Category

Announcing EthosCE Professional: Software-as-a-Service Learning Management System

Saturday, January 15th, 2011

We are pleased to announce our pre-launch “Software as a Service” (SaaS) learning management system, EthosCE Professional.  The new hosted, subscription-based product is designed for continuing education organizations that require a robust LMS to streamline the delivery of live and enduring CME activities, but do not wish to host an LMS internally or require extensive customizations and integration with 3rd party applications.  Here are some of the key features contained within EthosCE Professional.  To learn more about EthosCE Professional version, please visit us at the Annual Alliance for CME Conference in San Francisco, CA on January 26th-29th at Booth #617 or call us at (267)234-7401.

Streamline and automate your CME enterprise today with EthosCE Enterprise or Professional!

Features

  • Branded Web interface and templates.
  • Full CME course, assessment, and certificate suite.
  • ACCME PARS compliant reports.
  • Web-based administration console.
  • Unlimited learning groups, courses, and certificates.
  • No restrictions on number of learners.
  • “My CME” personal transcripts.
  • Support for all multimedia course formats.
  • News feeds, RSS, and calendars.
  • “Share This” social media integration.
  • In-person staff training
  • Ongoing support, tutorials, and software documentation.
  • No hosting required

Posted in Continuing Education, Learning Management System | Comments Off

EthosCE LMS Fuels OptumHealthEducation.com for Continuing Education

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

We are pleased to announce the launch of OptumHealthEducation.com, a full featured CME Website built upon our EthosCE Learning Management System.  The Website offers a wealth of CME accredited activities to physicians, pharmacists, nurses, and other allied healthcare professionals.  Currently, there are CME activities available across seven different specialty areas including: cardiology, infectious disease, internal medicine, neurology, oncology, pain management, and psychiatry.

OptumHealth Education selected EthosCE LMS to support their CME enterprise based upon the system’s robust features, customizable interface, browser-based administration, the open source licensing model, and our firm’s expertise in medical education technologies.  Using an agile development process, our Web designers and engineers worked closely with OptumHealth to create an engaging, easy-to-use learning environment that:

  • Delivers CME content based upon personal profiles and preferences.
  • Provides easy access to a wealth of live and online CME activities.
  • Creates a complete “My CME” transcript of all enrolled and completed activities.
  • Streamlines registration, assessment, and certificate processing.
  • Connects HCPs in 1,200 OptumHealth Learning Networks via integrated Google Maps.
  • Offers thematic communities of practice and discussion forums.
  • And, much more…

From an administration perspective, OptumHealth is able to:

  • Manage EthosCE LMS through any Web browser.
  • Avoid any annual licensing fees or restrictions on number of users.
  • Setup learning groups and individual user permissions.
  • Add new courses, assessments, and certificates “on the fly”.
  • Create and run reports.
  • Integrate with 3rd parties with ACCME standards-compliant Web services.
  • Moderate discussion forums and news feeds.
  • Streamline internal workflows.
  • Migrate or retire legacy databases within the EthosCE framework.
  • And, much more…

We are very pleased about the outcome of our partnership with OptumHealth and we look forward to seeing the continued evolution of the Website.

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EthosCE Learning Management System Version 2 Released!

Saturday, April 10th, 2010

We are pleased to announce the release of Version 2.0 of our EthosCE Learning Management System for continuing medical education and training.  The new version provides a wealth of new features and enhancements that promise to further streamline and enhance the continuing education and training enterprise including:

  • Mobile SMS text-messaging framework for conference registration and attendance management
  • Manual attendance management for non-mobile phone users
  • Addition of numerous fields added to course page to comply with ACCME PARS Report
  • Export of ACCME PARS Report in XML format
  • Full integration of robust e-commerce suite
  • Import function for external CE credits
  • Module to manage attendance at Regularly Scheduled Series (RSS) and Grand Rounds
  • Variable credit claiming for physicians
  • Transmission of learner data to external course, accreditation, or licensing providers
  • Additional tokens for improved certificate creation/management
  • Restrict individual course by password
  • Significant user interface improvements throughout application including profile, learning groups, courses
  • Enhanced course creation process
  • Added notes field for admin users on course page

We are very excited about this recent release and the team is already moving forward on future release candidates.  Contact us today if you would like to learn more and view a demonstration of EthosCE LMS v2.0!

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University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill BHRP to Implement EthosCE

Saturday, April 10th, 2010

We are pleased to announce that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Behavioral Healthcare Resource Program has selected our EthosCE Learning Management System to support their continuing medical education activities for healthcare professionals across North Carolina.  Under the agreement, our firm will retire BHRP’s current LMS, migrate legacy data on participants and educational outcomes measures, and implement an EthosCE Web application that is engaging and intuitive.  Using EthosCE, BHRP will be able to centralized program registration, offer live and online courses, conduct assessments, and generate CE certificates and report.  Health care professionals will be able to engage through high-quality accredited content, Web 2.0 offerings and community forums.  Our robust e-commerce engine will manage all course purchases for individuals, groups, and institutions.

By selecting EthosCE, BHRP will be able to reduce administration costs, have a highly professional, robust Website and learning management platform, and not have to pay heavy licensing fees normally associated with proprietary systems.  We are very excited about working with our new partners and helping to advance the quality of mental health care in North Carolina!

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Government Agency selects EthosCE Learning Management System to Support Emergency Management Services

Saturday, April 10th, 2010

The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) and Chester County (Pennsylvania) Department of Emergency Management Services have selected our EthosCE Learning Management System to support and coordinate the continuing education programs for thousands of EMS and affiliated healthcare professionals.  Under the agreement, we will consolidate the data systems currently distributed across seven divisions within one software platform including:

  • Emergency Management
  • 911 Operations
  • Fire Services
  • Field Services
  • Technology
  • Special Projects
  • Administration

By moving to our enterprise-level EthosCE content learning management system, the county will be able to reduce costs associated with manual data entry, scheduling, and technical support for their training events.  Similarly, all learners’ course registration data, assessments, CE transcripts, and reports will be centralized within one Website.  DLC Solutions will handle all aspects of Website design, software engineering, and data migration.

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EthosCE Presented at Alliance for Continuing Medical Education

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

I have just returned from presenting on EthosCE at the 35th Annual Alliance for Continuing Medical Education Meeting in New Orleans, LA.  The meeting was wonderful and our presentation was well-attended.  My colleague, Logan Thomison, from OptumHealth Education, a division of United Healthcare, and I were invited to present on the emerging role of Web 2.0 and open source software in the CME enterprise.  We focused the discussion on our experience implementing EthosCE Learning Management System across OptumHealth's CME enterprise.  EthosCE is a full-featured, open source learning management platform that integrates two industry-leading, open source software applications: Drupal Content Management System and Moodle Learning Management System..."Best of both worlds combined."

During our presentation, I discussed our development and deployment process and the broad set of features that the Drupal-Moodle combination brings to the CME enterprise.  Key points included:

  • Browser-based content authoring and learning management tools.
  • No annual licenses or limitation on the number of users or learners.
  • Web 2.0 and social media features.
  • Standardized CME workflow for registration, assessments, evaluations, and certificate management.
  • Personal CME transcripts.
  • Streamlined "back-office" administration tools.
  • Standards-based data exchanges, Web services, and outcomes reporting.
  • Completely customized "learner experience", Web design, and navigation.
  • And, complete access to the application source code.


View more presentations from DLC Solutions, producer of EthosCE.com.

Logan presented on his goals and evaluation process for selecting an open source application vs. a proprietary learning management platform.  He cited his own analysis showing costs associated with each model over Years 1-3.  The data showed that the cost of using an open source learning management system, such as EthosCE, was much lower over three years when he accounted for the annual license fees associated with proprietary software.  Similarly, Logan stated that it was very attractive for his organization to retain complete access to the EthosCE source code and have the ability to host the platform internally.  A former proprietary software engineer himself, he readily admitted that proprietary software does have its place.  However, after conducting an evaluation of OptumHealth's goals and needs, he concluded that open source software was the way to proceed.

We concluded our session with a very spirited discussion about the role of Web 2.0 and open source applications, such as EthosCE, in addressing some of the challenges facing today's CME organizations.  Main discussion points focused on compliance with ACCME's reporting requirements, Web services and data exchange formats (eg, state medical boards, national boards, 3rd party partners),  financial disclosure management, staffing requirements, e-learning, and social media.

We would like to thank all of those people who participated in our session and the Alliance for CME for inviting us to present at this wonderful conference.  Hope to see everyone next year and present some new data on our open source and social media experiences and data in the CME enterprise.

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EthosCE LMS Compliant with ACCME Program and Activity Reporting System for Continuing Medical Education

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

EthosCE Learning Management System is now compliant with the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education's (ACCME) online Program and Activity Reporting System (PARS).  An academic medical center (and current EthosCE client)  is serving as a PARS testing site for ACCME.  This new data collection portal is designed to improve the transparency, accountability and efficiency of continuing medical education systems.

The activity screens (shown below) collect all the data necessary for reporting to ACCME and will automatically generate the XML file required to submit the data to PARS. With EthosCE,  CME managers and administrators only need enter their activity data once and it's done!

The image on the left is the top of the ACCME category fields and the image on the right are commercial support fields. Commercial support fields are repeatable and support multiple sponsors.

The ACCME PARS and EthosCE system fields conform to the Medical Education Metrics (MEMS) XML standard created by Medbiquitous.

In addition to its use in the re-accreditation process, PARS will aggregate a provider’s CME activity and program information in order to produce the required ACCME Annual Report. So, as an EthosCE user, you no longer need to submit your ACCME Annual Report data through a separate system.  How is that for a time-saver?  Thank you ACCME!

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University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine selects EthosCE Learning Management System to Deliver Continuing Medical Education

Monday, November 16th, 2009

We are pleased to announce that the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine Office of Continuing Medical Education has selected DLC Solutions’ EthosCE Learning Management System to manage and deliver their continuing medical education (CME) progams and activities.

In a move designed to increase efficiency, improve the quality of educational programs, and obtain a more flexible platform that will accommodate future technologies and growth, the Office of CME is adopting EthosCE Learning Management System, an open-source, Web platform complete with content authoring, learning management, and social media features.

The Office of CME will use EthosCE to immediately:

  • Consolidate multiple, legacy Web and database applications;
  • Streamline “back office” administration for live and enduring activities;
  • Integrate a robust e-commerce engine;
  • Provide educational outcomes measurement and reporting;
  • Integrate with third-party education partners;
  • And enhance the learning experience through digital, mobile, and social media technologies.

About EthosCE Learning Management System

EthosCE is a full-featured, open source learning management system with built-in content authoring and social media tools.  The platform has been designed specifically for continuing education in many fields and integrates two industry-leading open source applications: Drupal Content Management System and Moodle Learning Management System.  Other EthosCE clients include: United Healthcare, the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, the New Jersey Academy of Family Physicians, the Pulmonary Hypertension Association, and George Washington University School of Medicine Office of Continuing Education.

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