Disease management (DM) has come a long way since the early 90s: the changing demands of the healthcare market have seen DM evolve through both carve-out and carve-in models to today's 'integrated DM'. And now DM is poised to transform itself yet again as it responds to the technological sea change that is the Internet. 'Internet-assisted DM', variously referred to as 'Web-based DM' and 'e-DM', was the focus of much interest at the inaugural meeting of the Disease Management Association of America (DMAA) [San Francisco, California, US; October 1999].