WebMD Health Corp. Acquires Healthwise, Incorporated's Operating Assets, Building on Leadership in Member and Patient Engagement Solutions

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Feb 29, 2024, 18:00 ET

Healthwise's current operating assets will become part of WebMD Ignite, creating an industry-leading healthcare growth and engagement platform serving 650+ healthcare organizations

NEWARK, N.J., Feb. 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- WebMD Health Corp., an Internet Brands company and a leader in health information services for consumers, physicians and other healthcare professionals, today announced it has joined forces with Healthwise, Incorporated, the patient and member health education and engagement company, through the acquisition of Healthwise's current operating assets.

Healthwise delivers a powerful offering of consumer health content to help healthcare organizations engage with and educate patients and members in their healthcare journey – ultimately reducing costs of care while empowering patients and improving quality. This market-leading curriculum forms the backbone of an impressive suite of solutions that enables health systems and health plans to meet patients and members where they are, whether through care management platforms, at the point of care, or digitally through online patient portals.

Healthwise's operating assets — including content, products, technology, client relationships and certain trademarks — will join WebMD Ignite, WebMD's market-leading healthcare growth and engagement division serving health organizations, healthcare professionals, providers and payers. WebMD Ignite is transforming the healthcare ecosystem by driving personalization, championing education, and connecting at every touchpoint along the health journey.

"The addition of Healthwise's business increases our already significant scale in content, technology, data and AI," said Ann Bilyew, Executive Vice President, Health, and President, Healthcare Solutions Group at Internet Brands. "The addition of Healthwise's assets to Ignite Education will accelerate our ability to create engagement solutions that are deeply personalized and that are delivered in the moments that matter. With these expansive, industry-leading resources, we are the dominant provider of engagement and education solutions for healthcare."

A deeper relationship with members, patients, and consumers to enable better outcomes

This asset purchase is another step toward improving U.S. healthcare through a vision of improved patient and increased member engagement using relevant, easily understood and interactive consumer health education.

With the acquisition of Healthwise's operating assets, WebMD Ignite will serve more than 650 healthcare organizations with its best-in-class patient education, including more than 50% of hospitals in the U.S. and 85% of the top 20 payers. More broadly, WebMD Ignite will be the largest healthcare growth engagement platform in the country, with more than 500 professionals serving providers, payers, disruptors, and other healthcare organizations.

"This transaction will put the best content at the point of care for significantly more than half of U.S. hospital patients, as well as for the membership of most major payor organizations. We will empower every health system, healthcare provider and health plan with the education their patients and members need to move successfully through their care journey – from Discovery to Recovery," Bilyew added.

"For nearly 50 years, the Healthwise team has developed the highest quality education content and solutions, created for all people to help them live their healthiest lives, and I could not be prouder of our legacy," noted Dr. Adam Husney, CEO, Healthwise. "We now have an opportunity to extend our mission through the broader solutions and delivery platforms offered by WebMD Ignite. This transaction will have an even greater impact on health consumers by uniting the potential of two leading organizations in the patient education space."

Going forward, the Healthwise Board of Directors will continue to explore new ways for the Healthwise nonprofit entity to achieve its mission of helping people make better health decisions through an independent go-forward nonprofit entity outside of the payer and provider space.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Healthwise was represented by Canaccord Genuity LLC throughout this process.

About WebMD Health Corp.

WebMD, an Internet Brands company, is at the heart of the digital health revolution that is transforming the healthcare experience for consumers, patients, healthcare professionals, employers, health plans and health systems. Through public and private online portals, mobile platforms, and health-focused publications, WebMD delivers leading-edge content and digital services that enable and improve decision-making, support and motivate health actions, streamline and simplify the healthcare journey, and improve patient care.

The WebMD Health Network includes WebMD Health, Medscape, WebMD Ignite (encompassing Krames, The Wellness Network, and Mercury Healthcare), Jobson Healthcare Information, MediQuality, Frontline, Vitals Consumer Services, Aptus Health, PulsePoint, MedicineNet, eMedicineHealth, RxList, OnHealth, Medscape Education, and other owned WebMD sites. WebMD®, Medscape®, CME Circle®, Medpulse®, eMedicine®, MedicineNet®, theheart.org® and RxList® are among the trademarks of WebMD Health Corp. or its subsidiaries.

About Internet Brands

Internet Brands®, headquartered in El Segundo, Calif, is a fully integrated online media and software services company focused on four high-value vertical categories: Health, Automotive, Legal, and Home/Travel. The company's properties and platforms include the WebMD, Medscape, and Henry Schein ONE networks, which are the global leaders in their markets; Nolo, Avvo, and Martindale, which form the largest consumer information provider in the legal market; and CarsDirect, Fodor's Travel, and many others which are leaders in their key vertical markets.

Internet Brands' award-winning consumer websites lead their categories and serve more than 250 million monthly visitors, while a full range of web presence offerings has established deep, long-term relationships with SMB and enterprise clients. The company's powerful, proprietary operating platform provides the flexibility and scalability to fuel the company's continued growth. Internet Brands is a portfolio company of KKR and Warburg Pincus.

About Healthwise

Healthwise, a leader in evidence-based health education, technology, and services, is a nonprofit organization with a mission to help people make better health decisions. Throughout its 48-year history, people have turned to Healthwise's award-winning content more than 2 billion times to learn how to do more for themselves, ask for the care they need, and say "no" to the care they don't need. With market-leading client satisfaction ratings, Healthwise has earned the trust of major hospitals, electronic medical record (EMR) providers, health plans, care management organizations, and digital health technologies to empower patients and achieve organizational objectives.

SOURCE WebMD Health Corp.