SAN MATEO, CALIF., August 29, 2006
Epocrates Announces New Publishing Partners for Its Clinical Messaging Service
Clinicians Can Count on Timely, Relevant Medical News When it Matters Most
Epocrates Inc., developer of clinical information solutions, today announced that selected content from Journal Watch, Neurology andthe BMJ Publishing Group, publishers of the BMJ (British Medical Journal), will now be delivered to healthcare professionals through the Epocrates DocAlert messaging service. Epocrates helps keep more than one in four of the nation’s physicians up-to-date by delivering medical news alerts to their mobile devices. The addition of these new publishing partners will broaden the range of peer-reviewed articles and medical news that Epocrates currently provides to its users.
“We recognize that today’s physicians are faced the overwhelming challenge of keeping up-to-date on medical news and best practices,” said Kirk Loevner, chairman and chief executive officer for Epocrates. “By working with esteemed publishers and news providers for the DocAlert service, including FDA’s MedWatch and HealthDay, we are helping our more than 500,000 healthcare professionals stay current, and in turn, make more informed clinical decisions.”
These messages are a complimentary service delivered to Epocrates’ users featuring the latest news, medical advances and insightful commentary. Clinicians may receive up to four alerts each time they synchronize their mobile device. Alert headlines are prominently displayed on the device’s screen and users have the option to read the news brief, save it to reference at a later date, or request more detailed information via email, such as full articles or studies.
“I rely on Epocrates’ messages to notify me about important clinical studies and developments in my field and beyond. The format is convenient and helps me stay current by delivering useful information to my device. It also helps me by alleviating the impossible task of reading several journals, websites and newspapers each day,” said Donna Fisher, MD, Baystate Children’s Hospital, Springfield, Mass.
Epocrates’ messages cover a wide variety of medical topics, including:
- Safety alerts – When the need arises, Epocrates quickly deploys important medication safety updates from the FDA and ISMP (Institute for Safe Medication Practices), such as drug recalls, patient monitoring information and warnings, directly into the hands of busy healthcare professionals.
- Evidence-based findings and commentaries – Epocrates DocAlert messages help physicians interpret medical breakthroughs and apply the findings to patient cases. InfoPOEMs provides evidence-based medical summaries that help support clinical decisions. Journal Watch physician-editors survey medical literature to provide brief perspectives that help clinicians put the most important medical developments into practice.
- Medical news – Clinicians routinely receive unbiased and concise news articles about research findings, conference highlights and government initiatives from general health and medical content providers including Reuters Health and HealthDay.
- Journal abstracts – Epocrates partners with leading peer-reviewed journals, including Primary Psychiatry, Neurology and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, to provide valuable clinical news targeted by specialty. Additionally, the BMJ Publishing Group, publishers of the BMJ and 22 specialty journals including Heart, Gut and Thorax, contributes articles on clinical data results and case studies.
CONTACT: Erica Sniad Morgenstern Epocrates Public Relations PHONE: (650) 227-6907 E-MAIL: pr@epocrates.com WEB: www.epocrates.com