WebMD (NASDAQ:WBMD) owns websites that gives its visitors information on a wide variety of medical conditions, overviews of available treatment options, and general information on lifestyle and preventative care. WebMD provides most of its services for free and makes money by charging other companies, particularly pharmaceutical companies, to advertise on its sites. The company earned $439 million in revenue and $117 million in net income in 2009.^[1]

Healthcare costs have increased an average of 7.6% a year since 2000.^[2] This has resulted in a growing effort by employers and healthcare plans to manage medical expense growth by encouraging plan members to take a greater share of responsibility for managing their own health. For these corporate clients WebMD creates a private version of its web portal. WebMD then stores a detailed health record for each employee and offers customized content on preventative care based on the employee's health profile. It also uses this information to match the employee with the best healthcare plan. WebMD charges both setup and monthly fees for its corporate services.

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