CNN, WebMD in wide-ranging agreement on on-line health and wellness information
By DON LONG
Healthcare InfoTech Managing Editor
Teaming up with one of the highest-profile companies in the communications industry, WebMD (Atlanta) on Tuesday said it signed an agreement with the CNN News Group (also At lanta). While boosting even further the expanding profile of WebMD in the healthcare information sector, the alliance broadens and deepens CNN’s access to medical news for its on-line and on-air networks.
The deal includes the exchange of on-line content and, beginning in April, CNN Interactive will use WebMD as the site’s premier provider of health and wellness information. This information will supplement CNN.com/Health, which provides healthcare and medical technology news and updates.
WebMD provides Internet health information to professionals, and they will now be able to access CNN’s Headline News summaries through the Physicians Lounge feature of the WebMD site. And WebMD will work with CNN Interactive to develop new editorial features and medical and health-related chats that will supplement CNN.com’s regular Friday health chats.
CNN, a division of Time Warner (New York), said it is making an investment in WebMD which will undoubtedly come through the purchase of shares in the company’s recently announced IPO, which is slated to raise $55 million. The amount of the investment was not announced. On its part, WebMD has agreed to a three-year advertising contract to air on CNN’s networks.
Tom Johnson, chairman, president and CEO of CNN, noted the current high interest in health news and the "proliferation of providers." He emphasized the quality of "trusted information" provided by WebMD and its potential for being a large player in the Internet health information industry.
Jeffrey Arnold, chief executive of WebMD, first launched his telemedicine business five years ago and then last October adopted the company’s current name to emphasize its focus on healthcare information targeted to professionals. He has said he is attempting to provide a "one-stop" site for a wide variety of products and services ranging from information and education in the field to medical supplies and insurance.
The new CNN alliance, Arnold said, will give a significant boost to his company’s credibility and its effort "to reach our goal of truly impacting this industry.'"
Operating at a furious entrepreneurial pace, WebMD has developed alliances with 30 other companies in the healthcare services and IT field, and the deals the company has made in the last month besides the CNN alliance clearly suggest its super-aggressive growth path. These include:
• Acquisition of an equity interest in J&C Nationwide, the nation’s second-largest staffing company for physicians and medical professions.
• New or increased investments in the company by four major groups: McKessonHBOC, the newly formed pharmaceutical distribution-IT conglomerate which is on its own hectic growth pace; Premier, the nation’s largest hospital and healthcare alliance; Tenet Healthcare, the nation’s No. 2 hospital chain; and Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield, a subsidiary of Trigon Healthcare.
• Acquisition, in late January of two consumer medical Internet companies, for a total of more than $50 million. WebMD purchased Sapient Health Network (Portland, OR), with more than 150,000 members, providing information related to chronic diseases, and Direct Medical Knowledge (San Francisco), a specialist in medical libraries and other health information.
CNN News Group includes Cable News Network and five other cable and satellite TV networks, plus an array of related news and information services, including CNN Interactive.
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