WebMD buys two online firms and adds four new alliances
The fast-growing Internet company WebMD (Atlanta) grew even more over the past week with the addition of four new partnerships and the acquisition of two online firms.
The company purchased Sapient Health Network (Portland, OR), a free, online health information and support service, and Direct Medical Knowledge (San Francisco), a web-based publisher of health and medial information. The two acquisitions help WebMD to provide "targeted, trustworthy and credible healthcare information to consumers, as well as the broad online support communities," said company Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Arnold.
The technologies of the two companies will be entirely integrated into WebMD in a two-step plan to be completed by the end of the third quarter, according to the company. The result will be an increase in employees from about 100 to more than 150 and the addition of new offices in Portland, Oregon, and San Francisco.
The company also said that four firms had either made an investment or increased their investments in WebMD
McKessonHBOC (Atlanta) is expanding an initial strategic investment made by HBO & Company in WebMD last summer. The two companies have signed a strategic alliance agreement for McKessonHBOC to distribute WebMD within its customer network, which includes approximately 5,000 hospitals, 25,000 retail pharmacies, and 200,000 physicians, and provide Internet-based content and applications for the WebMD service.
Premier (San Diego) the nation’s leading alliance of not-for-profit hospital and healthcare systems, through its affiliate Provider Select, is forming a strategic relationship with WebMD in furtherance of its support of Premier affiliated physicians.
Tenet Healthcare (Santa Barbara, CA), the nation’s No. 2 hospital chain, has agreed to negotiate a larger strategic relationship in addition to making an investment in WebMD. The intent will be to improve communication between physicians and patients, via the Internet, within the network of hospitals.
Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield, a subsidiary of Trigon Healthcare (Richmond, VA), will make an investment in WebMD, and the two companies are evaluating formation of co-branded networks in Trigon’s market areas in Virginia.
WebMD has more than 30 strategic alliances for content, services and distribution.
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