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Healthcare Strategy Research Leader Ziment Inc. Launches WebSurveyMD.com
" Bricks and Clicks" Company's Approach to Physician Interviewing

NEW YORK, July 24, 2000 - Ziment Inc., a longtime industry leader in physician interviewing, and among the largest market research organizations in the nation, has launched the first of a series of online professional communities designed to facilitate marketing research through the Internet. With WebSurveyMD.com, Ziment has created the largest dedicated panel of physicians in the U.S., and the panel with the most rigorous verification standards.

"A dedicated, online professional panel provides an unparalleled opportunity for reaching physicians instantly with research queries," explained Howard Ziment, managing director of Ziment. "Physicians are difficult to access and interview, but with more than 85% now online an Internet-based approach is both time-efficient and cost-effective."

Ziment continued, "It is also methodologically sound, because response rates from recruited panels typically exceed those of telephone and mail surveys. With hundreds of thousands of physician interviews conducted over the past 25 years, Ziment is best equipped with the infrastructure and the experience to put the Internet to use in gaining physician insight for pharmaceutical, healthcare and medical products clients."

Through WebSurveyMD.com, Ziment will provide both qualitative and quantitative research to several charter clients who will retain exclusive use of the physician panel. The physicians who join the panel have access to survey results, opportunities to dialogue with colleagues and medical news and information. They are paid an honorarium for their time according to standard marketing research practice. The site contains neither co-branding with commercial physician Web portals, nor advertising, both of which could skew research results.

"The site is designed to foster intellectual exchange with and between physicians," continued Ziment. "We felt it was important to create an atmosphere in which physicians feel most comfortable to respond thoughtfully and without bias."

Panel Recruitment
The physician panel has been recruited from randomly selected physicians contacted via Ziment's 150-station telephone center, via links from other Web sites and through direct mail, fax and conference recruitment. While some Web portals swell their physician counts by adding group rolls from HMOs, PPOs, etc., WebSurveyMD.com enrolls members one at a time during a visit to the site.

Member Verification
WebSurveyMD.com will provide the first online research panel for which members' qualifications are verified in two steps. First, the name of any physician who opts to join is verified through American Medical Association lists. A form is then faxed to the new member for signature -- similar to the way trade publications control their circulations.

WebSurveyIQ: Ratings of Physician-Targeted Sites
WebSurveyMD.com will also provide a new tool for tracking physician perceptions of medical Web sites. WebSurveyIQ is based on physician surveys conducted through the panel and includes evaluative scales for individual dimensions such as "quality and accuracy" and "ease of use" as well as an overall evaluation. A limited, initial series of ratings was based on an online physician survey in May 2000. Subsequent updates will allow movement in physicians' perceptions of various sites to be tracked.

Upcoming Professional Communities
WebSurveyMD.com is the first of a series of professional panels built by Ziment. An international physician component will be added, starting with Europe in the fall of 2000. Subsequent Ziment professional communities will include WebSurveyRN, WebSurveyPharmacist and WebSurveyMCO.

Member Confidentiality
Ziment is a founding member of the Interactive Marketing Research Organization (www.IMRO.org), an organization dedicated to high professional standards in the collection of marketing research data through the Internet. Ziment adheres to CASRO (Council of Survey Research Organizations) guidelines in protecting respondent confidentiality, and is committed to maintaining the privacy of online panel communities. All research reports contain aggregated, not individual, information from the panel. Information about individual panel members is not released.

About Ziment, Inc.
Ziment, based in New York City, is among the largest market research organizations in the nation. It is known as an industry leader in physician interviewing, having surveyed more than 20,000 physicians in 1999 alone. More information about services is available at www.Ziment.com, or by calling Ziment at 212-647-7200.

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