RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC USA -- HIT/HIPAA UPDATE NEWS SERVICE(TM) -- MAY 23, 2006: In the last year, the number of clinical trials being offered more than doubled from 11,000 in 2004 to 23,500 in 2005, according to ClinicalTrials.gov, a registry that tracks ongoing trials. Unless you are directly involved in a trial, most physicians are so engaged in day-to-day patient care, they often are unaware of clinical studies that might be beneficial to their patients. If they did, they rarely have time to research whether their patient can get enrolled. But an added value built into many EHRs will do the work for you in about 30 seconds.

In this 90-minute audio seminar, nationally-recognized clinicians will discuss:

• What are the pros and cons of getting involved in clinical trials?
• Is there a significant ramp up time to learn how to manage clinical trial patients?
• How are EHRs beneficial to managing and recruiting patients for trials?
• How does an EHR help in identifying eligible patients?
• What considerations should you make before becoming a principal investigator?
• How can you use your role as a principle investigator to recruit patients for your practice?
• What are your costs against estimated revenues?
• What are software informatics requirements to participate in clinical trials?

• Stephen Fadem, MD is a practicing Houston nephrologists and a Clinical Professor of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. He began practice in 1978 after completing a renal fellowship at The University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. He is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, and did his internal medicine residency at The University of Texas and MD Anderson Hospital in Houston. He is also a diplomate of the American Board of Quality Assurance and Utilization Review Physicians, and a member of the American Society of Nephrology, International Society of Nephrology, Renal Physicians Association, the American Association of Kidney Patients and The National Kidney Foundation. Dr. Fadem has been nationally recognized by receiving the American Association of Kidney Patient's Nova Award, the National Kidney Foundation's Distinguished Service Award. He has also received the National Kidney Foundation's Presidents Award and the Myron L. Jenkins Award. He has been awarded the Peter Lundin Award for his contributions to patient education.
  
  
• Tom Sturgis, President, COO Integrated Clinical Trial Services (ICTS) has a ten year history of working exclusively in pharmaceutical marketing and patient recruitment in clinical trials. Prior to joining ICTS, he was executive vice president & COO of two of the largest and most successful service providers in this industry, where he oversaw all operational activities. Sturgis has helped orchestrate over 100 patient recruitment programs in more than 15 therapeutic areas involving well over two million potential study patients. Successful enrollment in these studies has helped shave years off development timelines for clients.
  
  Sturgis assisted in the negotiation and sale of Butler Clinical Recruitment to Quintiles and Pharmaceutical Research Plus to HealthSTAR Communications and remained on-board through the initial transition period.
  
  
• Carolyn P. Hartley Moderator, is Editor-in-Chief, Publisher of The Physician's eHealth Report and is also President, CEO, Physicians EHR, LLC. She is co-author of "EHR Implementation: A Step by Step Guide for the Medical Practice", and co-author of the forthcoming handbook, "The Technical and Financial Guide to EHR Implementation."