Online CME could surge, as WebMD reveals MENA plans

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Private doctors should be on an equal par with ministry doctors, who are insured.

WebMD, the owner of Medscape and one of America's leading online sources for consumer health information, is planning to expand its sites to the Middle East, Medical Times has learnt.

In an exclusive interview, Marty Wygod, chairman of WebMD, said the group hoped to launch a regional version of Medscape in the first quarter of 2008, and had already sounded out strategic and financial partners to aid its expansion.

"It's going to be a major investment to bring this internationally," Wygod said. "We're in the process of meeting with strategic partners in different countries, and we'll start to roll this out in select countries in the early part of next year. The Middle East absolutely will be a part of that."

The first phase of development will focus on physicians, Wygod said, and grow to include patient-focused sites. Online content will be tailored to the region, and is likely to be provided as a joint venture with local healthcare partners.

"We'll need to partner with other entities in order to be able to get the kind of grasp or reach that we would need," he said. "Healthcare has to be sensitised to the region and the culture. It will probably be more difficult to monitor this in other countries, but we can live with that because, from a macro perspective, it will do us a lot of good."

As the largest provider of online CME in the US, the launch could see Medscape's ample back catalogue receive local accreditation. Wayne Gattinella, CEO of WebMD, acknowledged the move could go a long way towards filling the gap between new rulings on compulsory CME and the lack of regional educational events.

"That's one of the primary reasons we're going in on the physician side first in the region," Gattinella said. "There really is no WebMD-like brand of health information anywhere outside of the US today."

"We're confident that the quality of health information that we provide will resonate equally outside of the US."

WebMD will also expand its Private Portal Services (PPS), used by companies such as IBM and Microsoft, to its current corporate customers with Middle Eastern offices.

The PPS package sees employees receive tailored WebMD content, via private online health portals, within the restraints of the company's health insurance plan. The scheme, which includes a secure online health record for each individual, is designed to encourage employees to make better health decisions within the remit of their insurance.

"It's a fully customised version of WebMD for a particular employer's health plan design," Gattinella said. "Each employee has all their health information securely captured and stored by WebMD for the employee to access as needed, to be able to better manage their health."

With news of a proposed spread of compulsory insurance across the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the firm has a strong business case for a regional presence, Wygod said.

"Major companies want to provide the necessary information and coaching in order to keep employees out of the major disease categories.

"It's a huge opportunity for the large corporations here who already licence WebMD's assets for their own employees inside the workplace."

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