Newsletter publishers finding health care field practically immune to economic slowdown.

The merciless winds of the recent economic slowdown do not appear to have touched newsletter and specialized information publishers targeting health care professionals. On the contrary, these publishers seem downright bullish. Consider the following developments:

UCG 

In the first quarter of 2001, UCG added several products to its dozens of health care publications:

HIPAA Compliance Alert (12x, $298/year) helps health care organizations comply with regulations that cover the privacy and security of patient health records. Subscribers are compliance officers and IT professionals from hospitals, physician practices, and law firms. Publisher is Robert Sperber.

Fraud and Abuse Compliance Alert (FACT) ($269) is a study manual to help organizations train and test staff on complex health care regulations. Those who pass the exam earn the designation Certified Compliance Professioal, CCP, which serves as evidence to federal and state regulators of their commitment to meet stringent regulations. Publisher is David Grant.

The Anesthesia Compliance Plan Toolkit and The Physician Practice Compliance Plan Toolkit ($495 each) are two loose-leaf services published through an alliance with Provider Practice Analysis, Baltimore, a prominent consulting firm. The services walk subscribers through the process of setting up an in-house compliance program. Publisher is Robert Sperber.

Coding and Billing Expert Magazine (6x, $99/year), published in Reader's Digest format with four-color advertising, is aimed at professional coders in physician offices. Group publisher is Rick Hadley, and publisher is Nancy Macquire.

UCG publishes more than 100 newsletters, magazines, looseleaf services, online databases and web sites. The company employs more than 535 people, up from 407 a year ago, with offices in Rockville, Maryland, San Francisco, and Boston. In addition UCG owns significant stakes in TechTarget.com (NL/NL 3/31/01) and the American Petroleum Exchange--which employ over 250 additional people.

11300 Rockville Pike, #1100, Rockville, MD 20852, 301-287-2254, www.ucg.com

Global Success Corporation

Global Success Corporation, a national medical newsletter company, has opened a new publishing unit, The Accreditation Institute, and launched that group's first three monthly newsletters:

Pain Management Accreditation Update ($297/year) guides hospitals, nursing homes, and other health care facilities in complying with new official mandates to better access and control pain in all patients at all times.

Patient Safety Assurance ($298/year) advises health care facilities on better methods of preventing medical errors that can harm patients. It also presents expert methods for detecting and constructively analyzing any patient mishaps or "near misses" that do occur.

Medical Records Privacy Compliance ($299/year) aids health care providers of all types in understanding and complying with massive new federal regulations and emerging guidelines protecting the privacy of patients and their medical records.

The Accreditation Institute is a sister unit to GSC's The Coding Institute, which publishes 24 newsletters on specialty-specific medical coding information.

850 6th Ave. North, Naples, FL 34102, 800-508-2582, fax [phone], www.medville.com.

DRUGFACTS.com

DRUGFACTS.com, Facts and Comparison's internet drug information resource for health care professionals, recently announced double-digit growth in key operations metrics for the first quarter of 2001. The site's daily hits increased 71 percent while total daily visits to the site are up 60 percent.

John V. Levon, PharmD, DRUGFACTS.com's e-commerce business development manager, said, "Our numbers across all metrics are now increasing by double digits. Each day we see user acceptance and enthusiasm growing. In March alone, we averaged over 100 new registrations per day."

Through integrated drug, herbal, disease, interaction, and patient information web pages, visitors of DRUGFACTS.com have "24-hour access to comprehensive, credible, and timely health care information as well as unique practice tools," Levon said.

In the upcoming months, DRUGFACTS.com will be expanding the site and adding more features and functionality, including Drug News Weekly, an HTML e-mail newsletter, and Web Alert, a news tracking service.

The web site is also attracting major advertisers such as Gateway, Microsoft, Sprint, TWA, Procter & Gamble, Forbes, and The New York Times.

Facts and Comparisons' DRUGFACTS.com is part of the Wolters Kluwer International Health & Science internet initiative (NL/NL 2/28/01).

Levon, 314-216-2140, [e-mail]

NewsRx Network

NewsRx Network-which, incidentally, formed a strategic alliance with DRUGFACTS.com recently (NL/NL 2/28/01)--also posted impressive audience measurements for NewRx.net, based on its report from GoTo.com, GoTo search team listings reach 75 percent of all internet users on America Online, Lycos, AltaVista, Netscape, and others. Among these users, NewsRx.net was the click-through site for major health search terms and phrases.

For example, for the search terms "hypertension clinical trial," 40 percent of all clicks went to NewsRx.net, and for "hypertension risk factor," 26 percent of users went to the site.

NewsRx.net was also the preferred site in March for AIDS and HIV search. For the search terms "AIDS therapy," 25 percent clicked through to the site.

P.O. Box 5528, Atlanta, GA 31107, 770-507-7777, fax [phone], www.NewsRx.net.