Rockville, MD - Athena Forum.com, an educational service of Business Media Associates, Inc., has joined with Case Management Society of America (CMSA) to make available the newly developed web-based educational forum for case managers working in managed care settings.

"We are enthusiastic about this opportunity to collaborate with CMSA to enhance the case management profession," stated Tom Rasmussen, Athena Forum.com Publisher. "The mission of this website is to improve the clinical accuracy of case management, which is a perfect complement to CMSA's overall goals."

As the leading international, non-profit association dedicated to the support and development of the case management profession, CMSA was the obvious choice to help promote the continuing education benefits of Athena Forum.com.

"We at CMSA look forward to collaborating with the team at Athena Forum over the coming years," said Jeanne Boling, MSN, CRRN, CDMS, CCM, CMSA Executive Director. "The role of the RN Case Manager in both hospital and health plan settings is critical to success in today's healthcare market."

With more than 8,200 members, 15,000 member subscribers, and 65 chapters throughout the US, CMSA serves case managers through educational forums, networking opportunities, legislative advocacy, and establishment of professional standards. CMSA will help promote the benefits and services of Athena Forum.com to its members through various channels, including special pricing offers and links from the CMSA website.

Representing a new brand of text-based clinical education available on the Internet, Athena Forum.com will soon have more than 3,000 pages of accredited CE education with curriculum specifically designed using recent Needs Assessment research collected from a variety of 400 RN Case Managers nationwide. All CCM certificates are subsequently awarded by the Certified Case Managers Commission.

The course curriculum of Athena Forum.com currently includes 200-page courses on asthma, behavioral health, breast cancer, CAD, CHF, COPD, diabetes, MS, women's health, obesity management, pain management, RA, and more. Each permanent, searchable, state-of-the-art course is supervised by a clinical expert Course Director and updated quarterly. Courses are divided into four segments as in the Asthma Care modules listed below:

Module A: Pathophysiology of Asthma 50pp 1 CE RN & CCM Module B: Complications of Asthma Care 50pp 1 CE RN & CCM Module C: Pharmacologic & Biologic Agents in Asthma 50pp 1 CE RN & CCM Module D: Case Manager's Role in Asthma Care 50pp 1 CE RN & CCM

Athena Forum.com went live with the service in July 2004, and by fall 2004, more than 3,000 clinicians were enrolled by dozens of employers across the US. These currently include CIGNA, Humana, Independ-ence Blue Cross, and nearly 150 other organizations. Over 10,000 more enrollees are expected in 2005.

Available to healthcare employers for $125 per year per participant, the password-protected subscription service is offered only to clinicians and is not available to patients or consumers. All CE certificates are included and can be stored on the Athena Forum site or printed. As a benefit to CMSA members, a special inclusive price of $95 includes all courses for an entire year, a strong incentive for its members to take all the courses.

For more information, please contact Thomas A. Rasmussen, President, Business Media Associates, Inc., and Publisher of Athena Forum.com at 301-279-2160 or by email at trasmussen@biz-media.com.

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