Innovations in information technology are rapidly changing the healthcare market. With more and more clinical trials being conducted and managed on the web, the Internet provides an opportunity for conducting effective multi-center outcomes research studies and developing disease management programs. OBJECTIVES: This research describes the development of a web-driven application for ongoing collection, analysis, and reporting of outcomes research data. In addition, the web application was developed to gain experience in provision of benchmarking reports to healthcare providers conducting disease management programs. METHODS: Given current privacy regulations a multi-level security system with error checking was developed to assure integrity of data entering the system. Through integration of several programming languages (Visual Basic Script, Java Script, and HTML) into web-based active server pages, a method for immediate data collection, summary, and on-demand reporting was successfully developed. The system was deployed remotely via an Internet Service Provider. A prospective multi-site (10) hospital based infectious disease study of fungal risk and treatment patterns; and a retrospective lipid/cardiology clinic based study of patient care was conducted using the above technology. RESULTS: For expenditures of less than $1,000, secure web applications were developed that provided electronic data capture of all study variables. The customizability of the program allowed for developing applications for differing disease states thereby reducing set-up costs and improving efficiency. Simultaneous multi-site training and minimal data entry errors further reduced costs. The applications also provided real-time reports that enhanced patient-care and reported practice patterns that highlighted national and regional variations. CONCLUSIONS: The success of these studies have demonstrated the utility of the internet in providing healthcare practitioners with a cost effective tool for efficiently conducting multi-center outcomes research and disease management. Considering the increasing popularity and access to the Internet, this research has significant implications for outcomes research and disease management.