WebMD Health (WBMD)

 

 

Medscape from WebMD’s original content includes daily medical news, commentary, conference coverage, and expert columns written by our in-house news team and authors from widely respected academic and clinical institutions and edited and managed by our in-house editorial staff. We regularly produce in-depth interviews with medical experts and newsmakers, and provide alerts on critical clinical issues, including pharmaceutical recalls and product advisories. Medscape from WebMD also provides access to wire service stories and other news-related content. Medscape from WebMD develops the majority of its content internally and supplements that with third party content in areas such as drug information and full-text journal articles.

 

Medscape from WebMD is organized by physician specialty and profession, and also includes areas for nurses, pharmacists, medical students, and members interested in medical policy and business of medicine topics. Registration by users enables us to deliver targeted medical content based on such users’ registration profiles. The registration process also enables professional members to choose a home page tailored to their medical specialty or interest. Medscape from WebMD offers more than 30 specialty areas for its members. Medscape from WebMD members receive MedPulse^®, a weekly e-mail newsletter, which is published in more than 30 specialty-specific editions and highlights new information on the Medscape from WebMD site.

 

eMedicine Online Medical Reference.  eMedicine (emedicine.medscape.com) publishes online medical reference information for physicians and other healthcare professionals. Thousands of attributed physician authors and editors contribute to the eMedicine Clinical Knowledge Base, which contains peer-reviewed articles on over 6,500 diseases and disorders, many of which are illustrated with multimedia files. The evidence-based eMedicine content, updated regularly by the physician authors and editors, provides practice information covering most medical specialties.

 

theheart.org Cardiology Site.  theheart.org (www.theheart.org) is one of the leading cardiology Web sites, known for its depth and breadth of content in this area.

 

Continuing Medical Education (CME).  MedscapeCME (www.medscapecme.com) is the Web site through which our ACCME-accredited CME provider, Medscape, LLC, distributes online CME and CE to physicians and other healthcare professionals. The ACCME (the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education) accredits and oversees providers of CME credit, as described under “Government Regulation, Industry Standards and Related Matters — Regulation and Accreditation of Continuing Medical Education” below. Medscape is also accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation and as a provider of continuing pharmacy education by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education.

 

MedscapeCME offers a wide selection of free, regularly updated online CME and CE activities designed to educate healthcare professionals about important diagnostic and therapeutic issues, including both original CME and CE activities that it develops as well as activities developed by accredited third parties. In 2008, over 5.2 million continuing education activities were completed by physicians and other healthcare professionals on MedscapeCME, an increase of approximately 68% over 2007. MedscapeCME educational activities are supported by independent educational grants provided by pharmaceutical and medical device companies, as well as foundations and government agencies. The following are some of the types of continuing education activities on MedscapeCME:

 

 

 

Online Physician Community.  Physician Connect is our online community for physicians, which was launched in April 2008, building on our history of online physician interaction. The Physician Connect social networking platform allows physicians to exchange information online on a range of topics, including patient care, drug information, healthcare-related legislation and practice management. Physicians can also create polls to elicit tailored, constructive feedback from other physicians. By the end of 2008, Physician Connect had attracted more than 100,000 physician members.

 

 

Introduction.  The Internet has become a
primary source of information for physicians and other
healthcare professionals, and is growing relative to other
sources, such as conferences, meetings and offline journals. We
believe that our professional portals, which include Medscape
from WebMD, MedscapeCME, theheart.org, and
eMedicine, reach more physicians than any other network
of Web sites for healthcare professionals. We believe that we
are well positioned to increase usage by existing and new
members because we offer physicians and other healthcare
professionals a broad range of current clinical information and
resources. We expect that Medscape from WebMD, MedscapeCME
and our other professional portals will continue to benefit
from the general trend towards increased reliance on, and usage
of, the Internet by physicians and other healthcare
professionals.

 

There are no membership fees and no general usage charges for
our professional portals. However, users must register to access
the content and features of our professional portals. We
generate revenue from our professional portals by selling
advertising and sponsorship programs primarily to companies that
wish to target physicians and other healthcare professionals,
and also through educational grants.

 

Medscape from WebMD.  Medscape from WebMD
(www.medscape.com) enables physicians and other
healthcare professionals to stay abreast of the latest clinical
information through access to resources that include:

 

 

 

Medscape from WebMD’s original content includes
daily medical news, commentary, conference coverage, and expert
columns written by our in-house news team and authors from
widely respected academic and clinical institutions and edited
and managed by our in-house editorial staff. We regularly
produce in-depth interviews with medical experts and newsmakers,
and provide alerts on critical clinical issues, including
pharmaceutical recalls and product advisories. Medscape from
WebMD also provides access to wire service stories and other
news-related content. Medscape from WebMD develops the
majority of its content internally and supplements that with
third party content in areas such as drug information and
full-text journal articles.

 

Medscape from WebMD is organized by physician specialty
and profession, and also includes areas for nurses, pharmacists,
medical students, and members interested in medical policy and
business of medicine topics. Registration by users enables us to
deliver targeted medical content based on such users’
registration profiles. The registration process also enables
professional members to choose a home page tailored to their
medical specialty or interest. Medscape from WebMD offers
more than 30 specialty areas for its members. Medscape from
WebMD members receive
MedPulse^®,

a weekly
e-mail
newsletter, which is published in more than 30
specialty-specific editions and highlights new information on
the Medscape from WebMD site.

 

eMedicine Online Medical Reference.  eMedicine
(emedicine.medscape.com) publishes online
medical reference information for physicians and other
healthcare professionals. Thousands of attributed physician
authors and editors contribute to the eMedicine Clinical
Knowledge Base, which contains peer-reviewed articles on over
6,500 diseases and disorders, many of which are illustrated with
multimedia files. The evidence-based eMedicine content, updated
regularly by the physician authors and editors, provides
practice information covering most medical specialties.

 

theheart.org Cardiology Site.  theheart.org
(www.theheart.org) is one of the leading cardiology Web
sites, known for its depth and breadth of content in this area.

 

Continuing Medical Education (CME).  MedscapeCME
(www.medscapecme.com) is the Web site through which
our ACCME-accredited CME provider, Medscape, LLC, distributes
online CME and CE to physicians and other healthcare
professionals. The ACCME (the Accreditation Council for
Continuing Medical Education) accredits and oversees providers
of CME credit, as described under “Government Regulation,
Industry Standards and Related Matters — Regulation
and Accreditation of Continuing Medical Education” below.
Medscape is also accredited as a provider of continuing nursing
education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s
Commission on Accreditation and as a provider of continuing
pharmacy education by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy
Education.

 

MedscapeCME offers a wide selection of free, regularly
updated online CME and CE activities designed to educate
healthcare professionals about important diagnostic and
therapeutic issues, including both original CME and CE
activities that it develops as well as activities developed by
accredited third parties. In 2008, over 5.2 million
continuing education activities were completed by physicians and
other healthcare professionals on MedscapeCME, an
increase of approximately 68% over 2007. MedscapeCME
educational activities are supported by independent
educational grants provided by pharmaceutical and medical device
companies, as well as foundations and government agencies. The
following are some of the types of continuing education
activities on MedscapeCME:

 

 

 

Online Physician Community.  Physician Connect
is our online community for physicians, which was launched
in April 2008, building on our history of online physician
interaction. The Physician Connect social networking
platform allows physicians to exchange information online on a
range of topics, including patient care, drug information,
healthcare-related legislation and practice management.
Physicians can also create polls to elicit tailored,
constructive feedback from other physicians. By the end of 2008,
Physician Connect had attracted more than 100,000
physician members.

 

Medsite.  Medsite provides e-detailing services for pharmaceutical, medical device and healthcare companies, including activity development, targeted recruitment and online distribution and delivery. Traditional “details” are in-person meetings between pharmaceutical company sales representatives and physicians to discuss particular products. E-details are promotional interactive online programs that provide clinical education and information to physicians about medical conditions, treatments and products. Through our acquisition of Medsite, we are now able to provide our pharmaceutical and medical device customers with an expanded set of online solutions that help increase the sales efficiencies of their own direct detailing efforts. In an effort to improve operating efficiencies, several pharmaceutical companies have recently announced reductions in their field sales forces. We believe that in their effort to achieve greater overall market efficiency, pharmaceutical companies will increase their use of online promotional marketing, including e-detailing.

 

Membership.  Users must register to access the content and features of our professional portals. Registration by users enables us to deliver targeted medical content based on such users’ registration profiles. Medscape from WebMD is organized by physician specialty and profession, and also includes areas for nurses, pharmacists, medical students, and members interested in medical policy and business of medicine topics. The registration process enables professional members to choose a home page tailored to their medical specialty or interest. We offer more than 30 specialty areas for our users. There are no membership fees and no general usage charges for our professional portals. Medscape members receive MedPulse^®, our weekly e-mail newsletter, which is published in more than 30 specialty-specific editions and highlights new information and CME activities on the Medscape site.

 

Continuing Medical Education (CME).  Medscape is the leading distributor of online CME to physicians and other healthcare professionals, offering a wide selection of free, regularly updated online CME activities designed to educate healthcare professionals about important diagnostic and therapeutic issues. Medscape’s CME activities include both original activities and third-party activities that are distributed on our professional sites. In addition, Medscape’s CME Live offerings provide real-time Webcasts of CME activities on key topics and conditions. These live Webcasts combine streaming audio and slide presentations and allow participants to interact with faculty. In 2007, over 3.1 million continuing education activities (the majority of which were physician CME) were completed by physicians and other healthcare professionals on Medscape and our other professional Web sites, an increase of approximately 50% over 2006.

 

Medscape’s CME activities are planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and Policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Education, or ACCME, which oversees providers of CME credit, and other applicable accreditation standards. For information regarding ACCME accreditation and related matters, see “Government Regulation — Regulation of Drug and Medical Device Advertising and Promotion — Continuing Medical Education” below.

 

 

Introduction.  The Internet has become a
primary source of information for physicians and other
healthcare professionals, and is growing relative to other
sources, such as conferences, meetings and offline journals. We
believe that our professional portals, which include Medscape
from WebMD, theheart.org, eMedicine and
Medsite, reach more physicians than any other network of
professional Web sites. We believe we are well positioned to
increase usage by existing and new members because we offer
physicians and other healthcare professionals a broad range of
current clinical information and resources across more than 30
medical specialties. We believe that Medscape from WebMD
and our other professional portals should benefit from the
general trend towards increased reliance on, and usage of, the
Internet by physicians and other healthcare professionals.

 

We generate revenue from our professional portals by selling
advertising and sponsorship programs primarily to companies that
wish to target physicians and other healthcare professionals,
and also through educational grants. Users of the professional
portals do not pay any fees to us for the right to access any of
our services.

 

Medscape from WebMD.  Medscape enables
physicians and other healthcare professionals to stay abreast of
the latest clinical information through access to resources that
include:

 

 

Medscape’s original content includes daily medical news,
commentary, conference coverage, expert columns and CME
activities written by authors from widely respected academic
institutions and edited and managed by our in-house editorial
staff. We regularly produce in-depth interviews with medical
experts and newsmakers, and provide alerts on critical clinical
issues, including pharmaceutical recalls and product advisories.
Medscape also provides access to wire service stories and other
news-related content and third-party CME activities. Medscape
develops the majority of its content internally and supplements
that with third party content in areas such as drug information
and full-text journal articles.

 

Medscape also publishes an original electronic-only journal,
The Medscape Journal of Medicine (previously referred to
as Medscape General Medicine, or MedGenMed),
indexed in the National Library of Medicine’s MEDLINE
reference database. The Medscape Journal of Medicine, the
world’s first online-only, primary source, peer-reviewed
general medical journal, was established in April 1999. Visitors
to www.themedscapejournal.com also can access The
Medscape Journal of Medicine’s innovative Webcast Video
Editorials as well as specialty content sections.

 

eMedicine.  eMedicine.com publishes online
medical reference information for physicians and other
healthcare professionals. Thousands of physician authors and
editors contribute to the eMedicine Clinical Knowledge Base,
which contains articles on over 6,500 diseases and disorders.

 

theheart.org. theheart.org is one of the leading
cardiology Web sites, known for its depth and breadth of content
in this area.

Medsite.  Medsite provides
e-detailing
services for pharmaceutical, medical device and healthcare
companies, including activity development, targeted recruitment
and online distribution and delivery. Traditional
“details” are in-person meetings between
pharmaceutical company sales representatives and physicians to
discuss particular products.
E-details
are promotional interactive online programs that provide
clinical education and information to physicians about medical
conditions, treatments and products. Through our acquisition of
Medsite, we are now able to provide our pharmaceutical and
medical device customers with an expanded set of online
solutions that help increase the sales efficiencies of their own
direct detailing efforts. In an effort to improve operating
efficiencies, several pharmaceutical companies have recently
announced reductions in their field sales forces. We believe
that in their effort to achieve greater overall market
efficiency, pharmaceutical companies will increase their use of
online promotional marketing, including
e-detailing.

 

Membership.  Users must register to access the
content and features of our professional portals. Registration
by users enables us to deliver targeted medical content based on
such users’ registration profiles. Medscape from WebMD
is organized by physician specialty and profession, and also
includes areas for nurses, pharmacists, medical students, and
members interested in medical policy and business of medicine
topics. The registration process enables professional members to
choose a home page tailored to their medical specialty or
interest. We offer more than 30 specialty areas for our users.
There are no membership fees and no general usage charges for
our professional portals. Medscape members receive
MedPulse^®,
our weekly
e-mail
newsletter, which is published in more than 30
specialty-specific editions and highlights new information and
CME activities on the Medscape site.

 

Continuing Medical Education (CME).  Medscape
is the leading distributor of online CME to physicians and other
healthcare professionals, offering a wide selection of free,
regularly updated online CME activities designed to educate
healthcare professionals about important diagnostic and
therapeutic issues. Medscape’s CME activities include both
original activities and third-party activities that are
distributed on our professional sites. In addition,
Medscape’s CME Live offerings provide real-time Webcasts of
CME activities on key topics and conditions. These live Webcasts
combine streaming audio and slide presentations and allow
participants to interact with faculty. In 2007, over
3.1 million continuing education activities (the majority
of which were physician CME) were completed by physicians and
other healthcare professionals on Medscape and our other
professional Web sites, an increase of approximately 50% over
2006.

 

Medscape’s CME activities are planned and implemented in
accordance with the Essential Areas and Policies of the
Accreditation Council for Continuing Education, or ACCME, which
oversees providers of CME credit, and other applicable
accreditation standards. For information regarding ACCME
accreditation and related matters, see “Government
Regulation — Regulation of Drug and Medical Device
Advertising and Promotion — Continuing Medical
Education” below.

 

which is published in more than 30 specialty-specific editions and highlights new information and CME activities on the Medscape site.

 

Continuing Medical Education (CME).  We are the leading distributor of online CME to physicians and other healthcare professionals, offering a wide selection of free, regularly updated online CME activities designed to educate healthcare professionals about important diagnostic and therapeutic issues. Our CME programs include both original programs and third-party programs that we distribute on our professional sites. In addition, our CME Live offerings provide real-time Webcasts of CME programs on key topics and conditions. These live Webcasts combine streaming audio and slide presentations and allow participants to interact with faculty. In 2006, over 2 million continuing education programs (a majority of which were physician CME) were completed by physicians and other healthcare professionals on Medscape, an increase of 61% over 2005.

 

We believe that we have organized the operations of our professional portals to provide for appropriate separation of our education and promotion programs. Our educational activities for healthcare professionals are managed by Medscape, LLC, our professional education subsidiary, including the activities of the CME units of Conceptis, and Medsite. Individuals who work on educational matters are not involved with promotional programs.

 

Our CME activities are planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and Policies of ACCME. In addition, some of our programs have been produced in collaboration with other ACCME-accredited CME providers. We received provisional ACCME accreditation as a CME provider in July 2002 and full accreditation, for the maximum six-year period, beginning in July 2004. Such accreditation allows Medscape to continue to certify online CME activities. In September 2004, ACCME revised its standards for commercial support of CME. The revised standards are intended to ensure that CME activities of ACCME-accredited providers are independent of providers of healthcare goods and services that fund the development of CME. ACCME required accredited providers to implement these standards by May 2005. We believe that we have modified our procedures as appropriate to meet the revised standards. In order for us to renew our accreditation at the end of July 2010, we will be required to demonstrate to ACCME that we continue to meet ACCME requirements. For more information, see “Government Regulation — Regulation of Drug and Medical Device Advertising and Promotion.”