WebMD Announces Strategic Investments by Four Leading Healthcare Companies.

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 29, 1999--

McKessonHBOC, Premier, Tenet Healthcare Corp. and Trigon Blue

Cross/Blue Shield Agree to Make Strategic Investments To Deliver

Value-Added Internet-Based Healthcare Services

WebMD Inc., the Internet's leading healthcare portal, today announced that four leading healthcare companies have made or increased investments in the Company, and that each investor has also agreed to form a strategic relationship with WebMD.

The four companies, and the nature of their planned relationship with WebMD, are as follows:

- McKessonHBOC, Inc. (McKessonHBOC) (NYSE:MCK), the world's largest

pharmaceutical supply management and healthcare information

technology company, is expanding an initial strategic investment

made by HBO & Company in WebMD last summer. The two companies have

signed a strategic alliance agreement, the terms of which will be

finalized over the next 60 days, through which McKessonHBOC would

distribute WebMD within its customer network which includes

approximately 5,000 hospitals, 25,000 retail pharmacies, and

200,000 physicians, and provide Internet-based content and

applications for the WebMD service.

Mark A. Pulido, McKessonHBOC President and CEO, stated,

"McKessonHBOC is dedicated to improving healthcare performance by

delivering the right products and information to the right place

at the right time to advance the success of our customers as they

restructure healthcare delivery. We're proud to have been an early

partner of and investor in WebMD, and look forward to the role it

can play in helping achieve our mission."

- Premier, Inc., the nation's leading alliance of not-for-profit

hospital and healthcare systems, through its affiliate Provider

Select, is forming a strategic relationship with WebMD in

furtherance of its support of Premier affiliated physicians.

Barry Bailey, Chief Financial Officer and head of Strategic

Initiatives, stated, "Premier is committed to providing the

hospital and health systems in our networks, and the physicians

and healthcare professionals associated with them, world-class

tools to manage their practices, manage costs and most important,

improve care. We are delighted to provide them the opportunity to

connect and communicate with each other while also providing them

the broad range of resources offered by WebMD and its outstanding

partners."

- Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE: THC), the nation's #2 hospital

chain, has agreed to negotiate a larger strategic relationship in

addition to making an investment in WebMD.

Jeffrey Barbakow, Tenet Chairman and CEO, stated, "The investment

in WebMD reflects the company's interest in enhancing

communications among hospitals, physicians and patients through

the Internet."

- Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield, a subsidiary of Trigon Healthcare,

Inc. (NYSE: TGH) and one of the nation's top-rated Blue Cross Blue

Shield organizations, is making an investment in WebMD, and the

two companies are evaluating formation of co-branded networks in

Trigon's market areas in Virginia.

Norwood Davis, Chairman and CEO, stated, "Trigon Blue Cross Blue

Shield is committed to work with hospitals, physicians and other

health professionals to continuously improve health for our

members by offering quality, affordable products, as well as

providing tools and information for our members with an emphasis

on prevention. We see our investment in WebMD as an important

strategic step to fulfilling both these goals, and hope to develop

a partnership allowing us to use WebMD's platforms to link our

physicians and offer timely, trustworthy information to our

members."

About the Companies

McKessonHBOC, Inc., a Fortune 100 corporation, is the world's largest pharmaceutical supply management and healthcare information technology company. McKessonHBOC provides products and services across the entire continuum of healthcare, including market-leading businesses in pharmaceutical and medical-surgical distribution, information technology for healthcare providers, and services for payors and outsourcing.

Premier, Inc. is the nation's leading strategic alliance of not-for-profit hospital and healthcare systems across the country, representing 215 owners and the 830 hospitals and healthcare facilities they operate, and approximately 900 other affiliated hospital and healthcare organizations. Premier maintains major offices in Charlotte, NC, Chicago, IL, San Diego, CA and Washington DC.

Tenet Healthcare Corporation, a nationwide provider of health care services, through its subsidiaries, owns or operates 129 acute care hospitals and related businesses serving communities in 18 states. The company, which is headquartered in Santa Barbara, California, employs approximately 130,000 people nationwide. Tenet provides central support services to its hospitals from a Dallas-based operations center.

Trigon is Virginia's largest managed health care company, providing a broad range of health, wellness and health care financing programs and services to approximately 1.8 million members.

About WebMD

Launched October 5, 1998, WebMD, Inc. (www.webmd.com) provides a Web-based solution for the administrative, communications and information needs of healthcare professionals and consumers. WebMD is a single point of access to insurance verification and referrals via an electronic data interchange service, enhanced communications services, branded healthcare content and other Web-based solutions. For healthcare professionals, WebMD's Web site is designed to simplify healthcare practices by integrating multiple administrative, communications and research functions into a single, easy-to-use Internet-based solution. WebMD's separate healthcare consumer Web site provides premium, branded content to assist consumers in making informed healthcare decisions.

WebMD has more than 30 strategic alliances for content, services and distribution with companies, including McKessonHBOC (NYSE: MCK), ENVOY Corporation (NASDAQ: ENVY), MedQuist/Transcription Services Ltd. (NASDAQ: MEDQ), DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company (NYSE: JNJ) and Thomson Healthcare Information Company, Inc.

WebMD physician subscriptions are available by calling (877) GO-WEBMD or accessing the web site at http://www.webmd.com. Consumers can access comprehensive healthcare information and services through the same address.