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October 30, 2013 10:56 am GMT

WebMD Acquires Avado For $20-$30M To Help Drive Its Evolution From Media Company To Patient Engagement Platform

Screen Shot 2013-10-29 at 6.31.13 PMSeventeen years after its inception, WebMD remains one of the go-to resources for basic health and diagnostic information (and hypochondria enablement) on the Web. Born at the height of the Dot-com Boom, WebMD is on a very short list of companies that were able to not only endure the ensuing crash, but go on to achieve profitability, a billion-dollar market cap and maintain their position as a market leader — even today. It’s been a bumpy road for WebMD, however, and the potholes ahead aren’t getting any smaller. As the transformation of the healthcare industry accelerates, the threats to WebMD’s business and its position atop the food chain have begun to multiply. Though WebMD announced today that its health network saw 138 million unique visitors per month and total traffic of 2.95 billion page views during the third quarter — after reporting its first profit in six quarters in July — its popularity has wavered over the last decade. At times, WebMD has been more punchline than pioneer. Adapt Or Die Today, WebMD is primarily known for its consumer-facing health and diagnostic web portal and mobile apps. When you think of WebMD, you think of its classic symptom checker, where you can enter in keywords like “runny nose,” whereupon it will serve you with possible diagnostic matches. However, over the years, the company has been quietly diversifying, adding services that allow it to reach new audiences. Through Medscape, for example, the company offers medical news and information to healthcare providers through its registration-based portal and apps. In turn, WebMD has also begun to target employers and health plans with its subscription-based patient engagement platform and private online health portals, which give employees a secure gateway through which they can access their personal health information, plan data and insurance claims. WebMD 2.0: From Media To Tech While WebMD has build a solid foundation around its flagship health information site, each of these services still live apart from each other. As people continue to adopt and become comfortable using a wide range of digital health tools, the opportunities for patients and healthcare providers to connect and communicate, for patients to take control of (and better monitor) their healthcare will increase exponentially. If WebMD is going to continue to be a part of the conversation in the emergent HealthCare 2.0 Era, it’s going to have to step up its game and adapt to

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