Since joining Oasis LMS these past few months, I made it a point to connect with healthcare organizations ranging from academic medical centers, health systems, and internal CME departments to learn about their education and learning needs. While I believe in what we’ve built at Oasis, I also think it’s important to understand the marketplace.

So, I took some time to dig into other top learning management systems used in the healthcare space today. I imagined as if I were in charge of selecting an LMS for a large health system. What would I want to know and who would I talk to.

Below is what I found when comparing five of the top options: EthosCE, Relias, Cornerstone OnDemand, Absorb LMS, and of course, Oasis LMS.

What Is a Healthcare Learning Management System (and why is it different than any other LMS)?

A healthcare learning management system (LMS) is a platform designed to deliver, manage, and track education and training for clinicians, staff, and administrators in healthcare settings. Unlike general corporate LMS platforms, healthcare LMSs often include features tailored to accredited continuing education (CME/CE), certification, regulatory compliance, and performance improvement.

A healthcare LMS must support a wide range of content, from live events to enduring materials. Importantly, the LMS must allow for seamless tracking of credit, including CME, CNE, CE, MOC (and many other variations). For hospitals and health systems education is important but maintaining licensure, meeting accreditation standards, and improving care outcomes are the ultimate goal.

What Matters Most in a Healthcare LMS

Before we dive into my opinions, below are some of the main criteria I focused on.

CME/CE Compliance
Integration with systems like ACCME PARS, JA-PARS, ANCC, and CPE Monitor.

MOC & Practice Improvement Support
Tools for tracking MOC Part 2 and Part 4 activities, including self-assessments and performance improvement (PI).

Scalability for Large Systems
Role-based access, SSO, department-level permissions, and easy reporting.

· Ease of Use for Clinicians
On the go, few clicks, easy to access.

· Automation and Reporting
Dashboards, exportable reports, integrations with the accrediting bodies.

Healthcare LMS Use Cases

Healthcare organizations use LMS platforms for a variety of mission-critical functions. Here are a few of the most common use cases I see:

· Internal CME for Physicians and Nurses
Deliver accredited continuing education, track credits, and submit to licensing boards.

· MOC and Certification Tracking
Manage Maintenance of Certification (MOC) requirements and performance improvement activities.

· Compliance Training
Ensure staff complete mandatory modules like HIPAA, infection control, and safety training.

· Onboarding and Orientation
Standardize training for new hires across departments or facilities.

· Quality Improvement Initiatives
Align education with clinical performance goals and measure outcomes over time.

· Multi-Site Learning Delivery
Support consistent training across hospitals, clinics, and departments with centralized reporting.

Understanding how you plan to use an LMS is critical as it ensures you choose a platform that’s not just loaded with features you won’t use, but aligned with your end goals.

At-a-Glance Comparison Table

Feature

Oasis LMS

EthosCE

Relias

Cornerstone

Absorb LMS

CME Credit Support (PARS, etc.)

✅ Full Integration

✅ Robust

⚠️ Limited

⚠️ Requires Custom

❌ Not Supported

MOC & Practice Improvement

✅ Built-In

✅ Some Support

❌ Not Included

❌ Not Included

❌ Not Included

Designed for Healthcare

✅ 100% Focused

✅ CME-Focused

✅ Broad Healthcare

⚠️ Corporate Focus

⚠️ General Training

Clinician User Experience

✅ Streamlined

⚠️ Complex UI

✅ Easy to Navigate

⚠️ Generic Interface

✅ Clean & Modern

Enterprise Scalability

✅ Strong

✅ Configurable

✅ Scalable

✅ Enterprise-Grade

✅ Scalable

Accreditation/Audit Reporting

✅ Built-In

✅ Flexible

⚠️ Basic

⚠️ Requires Add-ons

❌ Manual Reporting

Pricing Model

✅ Transparent

⚠️ Varies by Need

✅ Mid-Range

⚠️ Enterprise-Scale

✅ Predictable

5 Top Healthcare LMS

EthosCE

EthosCE has a strong legacy in CME and is trusted by major academic centers and professional associations. It supports PARS, CPE Monitor, and offers powerful tools for evaluations, course design, and user tracking. Its configurability allows teams to create complex learning paths, tailored registration, and detailed reporting.

That power, however, comes with a learning curve. Admins I’ve spoken to often describe EthosCE as feature-rich but hard to manage without internal IT support or external developer help. When you want to update your site it can require professional services or dedicated support, which may add costs or takes longer than expected. However, for large institutions with large IT departments and complex CME structures, EthosCE remains a capable platform.

Relias

Relias excels at compliance, onboarding, and general workforce development across healthcare. It’s easy to use, integrates with HR systems, and offers an impressive library of training content. Many health systems already have Relias in place to handle non-accredited education, annual requirements, and staff-wide initiatives.

When it comes to CME, though, Relias isn’t built for the intricacies of accreditation or board reporting. You can certainly deliver content, but features like partial credit claiming, MOC tracking, and PARS integration are absent. That said, for health systems seeking a general training platform with CME handled elsewhere, Relias is a proven and well-supported option.

Cornerstone OnDemand

Cornerstone provides an enterprise grade worldwide LMS. It’s highly configurable, and robust making it great for organizations who want to centralize their system for HR, compliance, and professional development. In healthcare, it’s often used as a the single platform for all trainings whether HR or for CME.

However, CME was not in mind when Cornerstone was building their LMS. Cornerstone can be adapted to manage continuing education, it requires significant customization, consulting, and internal IT resources. If your organization already uses Cornerstone, you may be able to configure it for CME. However, if CME is a mission-critical, regulated program, Cornerstone may not deliver the seamless experience clinical educators expect in today’s world.

Absorb LMS

Absorb is known for its sleek UI and out of the box configuration. It’s great for delivering learning across an orginization, and learners consistently praise the clean user experience. Healthcare organizations often use Absorb for onboarding, annual training, and leadership development.

For CME, though, Absorb doesn’t offer out-of-the-box tools for credit claiming, MOC tracking, or accreditation workflows. It’s a general-purpose LMS, not a healthcare-specific one. That said, it’s an excellent companion platform for non-clinical learning or as part of a dual-LMS strategy.

Oasis LMS

Oasis LMS is built specifically for healthcare organizations that deliver accredited education. We support full integration with systems like PARS, JA-PARS, and CPE Monitor, and offer built-in modules for MOC Part 2 and Part 4, including practice improvement programs.

We also support partial credit claiming (in .25 increments), department-based access, SSO, and enterprise-level reporting. Our customers include associations, hospitals, and health systems who need a platform that understands the nuances of clinician education, regulatory reporting, and user engagement.

Our mission isn’t to serve every possible use case from k-12 to corporate. We strive to support healthcare organizations, whether a hospital, academic space or medical association. That is who we build Oasis LMS for.

Final Thoughts: Choosing the Right Healthcare LMS

If you're evaluating learning management systems for your hospital, health system, or CME program, here are a few questions I’d recommend asking:

· Does the platform natively support the accreditation bodies we work with?

· Can they manage MOC, PI, and multi-activity bundles in one place?

· How easily can clinicians claim credits (what’s that process look like?) and how accurate is the reporting?

· Will this scale cross departments, sites, and specialties?

· What kind of support will we get after implementation?

Every organization is different. But if you're looking for a healthcare LMS built specifically for CME, I’d love to show you how Oasis LMS compares in your real-world environment.

Request a custom demo or download our LMS evaluation checklist to get started.

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