Relias Healthcare LMS: What It Does Well and Where Healthcare Organizations Need More

Relias Healthcare LMS: What It Does Well and Where Healthcare Organizations Need More

Relias has become one of the most recognized healthcare LMS. Hospitals, behavioral health providers, long-term care facilities, and home health organizations rely on it to manage mandatory training and compliance at scale.

But as healthcare organizations expand their internal education strategies  from CME to CE pathways to specialty training, many leadership teams find that Relias solves one part of the learning equation, but not the whole thing.

This article breaks down what Relias does well, where it falls short, and when an alternative like OasisLMS may be a better fit as a healthcare LMS.

What Relias Does Well for Healthcare Organizations

Relias is highly effective for organizations that need to deliver standardized training to large staff populations. Its strengths include:

Strong Compliance & Mandatory Training Capabilities

Healthcare organizations choose Relias primarily for:

  • Role-based content assignments
  • Automated training reminders
  • Tracking and reporting at scale
  • Audit-ready documentation

When the goal is compliance, Relias is easy for administrators to manage and reliable for frontline staff.

Large Clinical Content Library

One of Relias’ biggest differentiators is its library of pre-built clinical and behavioral health content. This works especially well for:

  • New hire onboarding
  • Mandatory annual competencies
  • Nursing education
  • Behavioral health and long-term care training

Because Relias owns its content, delivery is streamlined — though this can limit flexibility for organizations with custom CE needs.

Workforce Development Pathways

Relias also supports:

  • Competency evaluations
  • Leadership development
  • Role-specific learning plans

This makes it helpful for HR, talent development, and clinical education teams responsible for career progression and internal skills development.

Where Relias Falls Short for Modern Healthcare Education

Despite these strengths, many organizations discover that Relias is not built for the full complexity of today’s healthcare learning ecosystems, especially when CE or CME enters the picture.

Not Designed for CME or Advanced CE Operations

Relias delivers CE credits for its own courses, but it lacks the infrastructure needed by CME and CE departments, such as:

  • PARS and JA-PARS integration
  • CPE Monitor
  • Multi-credit pathways
  • Session-level credit claiming
  • Partial credit
  • Transcript management for physician learners

This is a major reason CME teams look elsewhere.

Limited Flexibility for Complex Healthcare Structures

Large systems often require multiple learning portals or divisions, such as:

  • Individual hospitals
  • Specialty departments
  • Affiliates and partner clinics
  • Multi-state entities

Relias offers basic hierarchy management, but it doesn’t support highly customizable, multi-organization structures that many enterprise healthcare teams need.

Minimal eCommerce or Revenue Enablement

CE and CME teams increasingly run:

  • Paid courses
  • Subscriptions
  • Bundles
  • Conference content
  • Certificate programs

Relias isn’t built for these business models and offers minimal tools for monetization or segmentation.

Branding and User Experience Limitations

Relias favors standardized templates across all customers. Healthcare organizations looking to provide a branded, patient-facing, or partner-facing learning experience generally need more customization than Relias supports.

Relias Healthcare LMS vs. OasisLMS: Key Differences

Here’s a clear snapshot of how the two platforms compare:

Feature Relias OasisLMS
Primary Strength Workforce + compliance training CE/CME + enterprise healthcare education
Content Model Library-first Flexible authoring + all credit types
CME Workflows No Yes (PARS, JA-PARS, CPE Monitor)
Partial Credit No Yes (.25 increments)
Multi-Organization Structures Basic Advanced portals + affiliates
eCommerce Minimal Full store, bundles, subscriptions
Branding Options Standardized Fully branded environments
Advanced Assessments Limited Exams, scenarios, PI, evaluations

When Relias Is a Good Fit and When It Isn’t

Relias is a great choice if your primary needs are:

  • Mandatory training
  • Clinical content delivery
  • Compliance tracking
  • Workforce development

Relias is not a great choice if you need:

  • CME or CE program management
  • Multi-credit pathways
  • Deep reporting and analytics
  • eCommerce capabilities
  • Multi-organization education structures
  • Branded portals for affiliates or divisions

In these cases, a platform designed specifically for healthcare education — like OasisLMS,  is a stronger fit.

Why Healthcare Organizations Choose OasisLMS Instead of Relias

OasisLMS is designed for the complexities of healthcare learning, especially when CE, CME, or multi-site structures are involved. Healthcare organizations turn to OasisLMS when they need:

  • Full CME/CE workflows
  • PARS, JA-PARS, CPE Monitor integrations
  • Multi-organization learning portals
  • Environments for hospitals or affiliates
  • eCommerce for internal/external learners
  • Advanced assessment and evaluation tools
  • Support for diverse clinical and non-clinical audiences

For many healthcare systems, OasisLMS has become not a replacement for Relias,  but a complementary platform for the education functions Relias wasn’t designed to handle.

Final Thoughts

Relias is one of the leaders in the workforce training space for healthcare. However, as organizations in the healthcare space look to offer CME, CNE and CE, features like customization, reporting, revenue opportunities, and multi-organization support, are more important and Relias may not be suitable for these needs.

If your organization is evaluating the Relias healthcare LMS and wants a more flexible, CE-focused, enterprise-ready platform, OasisLMS may be a better fit for your long-term education strategy.

FAQ: Relias Healthcare LMS

Is Relias an LMS or a content library?

Both, but it is primarily a content provider. The LMS exists mainly to distribute Relias-produced clinical and behavioral health content.

Is Relias good for CME or CE programs?

Relias offers CE credits for its own courses, but it is not designed for CME operations, multi-credit pathways, PARS reporting, or advanced CE program management.

Does Relias integrate with PARS, JA-PARS, or CPE Monitor?

No. These workflows typically require a CE/CME-focused platform like OasisLMS.

Can Relias support multiple divisions or hospitals?

Only in a limited way. Large systems with affiliates, separate brands, or multi-organization structures often need more flexibility than Relias offers.

Can you sell courses or subscriptions inside Relias?

Only at a very basic level. Relias is not built for CE eCommerce, pricing strategies, or audience segmentation.

Is Relias customizable?

Customizations are minimal. Templates, workflows, and layouts are standardized across most customers.

Is Relias a good fit for physician education?

Not typically. Physician learners often need CME, transcript management, partial credit, and advanced reporting, areas where Relias is limited.

 

 

Sam Hirsch

Vice President, Sales and Marketing

Sam Hirsch is the Vice President of sales and marketing at 360 Factor. He has helped over 250 associations find the right LMS for their organization.

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