Following approval, he estimates that, allowing for technology acquisition and faculty recruitment, it would take another six to 12 months to complete.

Thus far, HMS's continuing education programs have been fairly traditional; according to Goldfinger, courses are given mostly in Boston and last one to five days.

"We must ask, 'Are there other ways of reaching physicians in our country?'" says Goldfinger, a member of the collaborative workgroup. "You can't just go up there with one or two programs. ...You want it to be substantial."

Goldfinger says the $15-20 million ballpark cost includes technology, marketing, course design and development. He adds that he hopes revenues will come from subscribers and industry. HMS also has a potential partnership in the works.

Goldfinger expects HMS continuing education to capitalize on the Harvard brand name.

"All content will be tightly controlled by Harvard," he says. "It will be a Harvard site."

The challenge, he says, is living up to the HMS reputation in the new medium.

"Each year a new cohort of young physicians is entering medicine and bringing with them the habits of using the Internet as an important means of learning and communicating," Goldfinger says.