In an effort to target the growing online medical field, the recently merged WebMD, Inc. and Healtheon Corp. teamed up with healthcare company HealthSouth Corp. in a $50 million partnership to develop sports medicine services online.
Terms of the agreement call for Healtheon/WebMD (HLTH) to create a comprehensive source for sports medicine information for consumers and physicians, including information and resources provided by HealthSouth’s network of physicians and outpatient information.
The partnership will include revenue sharing for all sponsorships, e-commerce and advertising within the channel, the companies said. The channel will be hosted on WebMD. In addition to the online component, the partnership is anticipated to include offline co-marketing programs such as waiting room television programming in every HealthSouth office.
“This partnership with HealthSouth creates a completely unique model to build market share and create new revenue opportunities,” said Jeff Arnold, CEO of WebMD. “WebMD’s national base of consumers will have access to local care provided by HealthSouth physicians and facilities. We believe that HealthSouth’s adoption of Healtheon’s connectivity and electronic transactions capabilities will result in tremendous efficiencies that will deliver significant results.”
Features of the site are set to include:
- Original, comprehensive, trusted sports medicine information
delivered in daily newscasts - Special interest communities, focused on topics such as back pain
and arthritis - Ask the Expert information resource
- Find a HealthSouth Facility search resource
- Physician and celebrity online chat events
