Just as the key to successful healthcare is having the right people, properly prepared and ready to handle the job at hand, so it goes for the keys to successful claims management. Preparation of a witness is an ongoing, strategic and proactive process which commences at the inception of the litigation and continues through the trial. This presentation will show techniques for a witness centered defense and provide both the philosophy behind this approach as well as giving pragmatic tool-kit type techniques for implementation. Topics discussed include initial meetings, strategic sequencing, and witness preparation for