A study that will research how handhelds can be used as a new way of delivering targeted continuing medical education (CME) to physicians will be presented on Friday at the 29th Annual Conference of the Alliance for Continuing Medical Education

Susan Brown Connelly, PharmD, of Advanced Concepts Institute, a research group of University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, will present the study. "Several members of the Advanced Concepts Institute and our collaborating organizations have designed an intervention that uses both managed care data and handheld/PDA technology to specifically target physicians who may be most interested in, and most likely to benefit from, CME around the diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis," said Dr. Connelly.

The study will use ePocrates handheld/PDA technology and its network of physician users. According to ePocrates, approximately 52% of its 130,000 U.S. physician users are also members of Aetna's provider network, a collaborator on the study.

Jeff Taylor, RPh, MS, Aetna Pharmacy Director, adds, "by analyzing our data, we can select physicians who are most likely to benefit by viewing the latest CME on the screening, diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis. In today's environment of information overload, we want to focus our educational information on those who will reap the most benefit."

Physicians selected from a data analysis by Aetna and who use ePocrates handheld software, will receive an offer to take a short 10-case initial assessment presented as a challenge via ePocrates DocAlert Messaging.

Based on the results of their initial assessment, physicians will either receive a partial CME credit for passing the initial assessment or be offered additional CME focused on the areas covered in the challenge. Participants who successfully complete the initial assessment will still be given the option of completing the additional activity.