While Microsoft and Google want to build general health portals for consumers (Microsoft launched HealthVault, and we’re still waiting for Google Health), medical search engine Healthline is taking more of a white-label approach. It is partnering with Aetna to create a personalized health portal for insurance customers called Aetna SmartSource.
Since Aetna already has electronic medical records for the people it insures, SmartSource can offer personalized results for health-related searches. These include health information about a person’s specific conditions and maladies, their medications, local doctors who treat those diseases, and medical costs. Healthline’s medical taxonomy matches common health terms with their technical medical counterparts to provide a guided search experience. For each search, it provides a visual map showing all the related categories, covering diseases, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.
By tying into all the data that Aetna already collects about the people it insures, Healthline is sidestepping one of the big hurdles that HealthVault and Google Health face. Namely, getting personal medical information into their systems. But it is a very insurance-centric view of a person’s health. (There is a lot of emphasis on showing healthcare costs, even though that rarely factors into the medical decisions of most people who are covered by insurance).
Google’s and Microsoft’s approach draws on many more sources of medical information and is designed to help people monitor and track their own health. For instance, they let you upload data from medical monitoring devices such as glucose or blood pressure meters so you can keep track of your progress over time. The Aetna-Healthline portal takes a much more top-down approach. If it is not a billable health event, SmartSource won’t capture it. That part is not so smart.
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i don’t get why healthcentral.com is being overlooked in this flurry of health start-ups. they’ve been doing a social platform approach to health for a few years and are gaining steam but seem to receive little press. why?
While Microsoft and Google want to build general health portals for consumers (Microsoft launched HealthVault, and we’re still waiting for Google Health), medical search engine Healthline is taking more of a white-label approach.———interesting post!!
interesting post!!! Google health!??? –interesting
Anything in partnership with Health Insurance companies is a big NO NO for me. The confidence of people is long gone with Insurance companies. I won’t give any personal and/or health information to any website that has a direct relationship with the Insurance company. I am happy to stay organized with PC (not online).
I wonder what happens when you change insurance companies as you undoubtedly will. I’m even more curious about the deal these two companies forged. Many people who are searching for health information online view health insurance companies as straight up crooks. Striking a deal with an insurance company might give the impression that HealthLine’s health information is influenced by the insurance company itself.
I also disagree that most people don’t factor in price when making medical decisions. I think the reality of the price tag is sadly a very big factor in deciding on care these days, with or without insurance.
It’s encouraging to see healthline get covered on techcrunch. You mentioned healthline’s white-label approach and I just wanted to bring to your attention that a number of partners have white-labeled their solutions for healthline, integrating further value into the healthline portal.
Our company, healthpricer.com, has white-labeled its health product search database and comparison shopping engine for healthline. This now enables visitors to find relevant products as part of their overall search and/or visit its product marketplace at http://marketplace.healthline.com.
To be clear, as posted, this deal does NOT include the medical record. it includes the billing for the medical records- that distinction is an important one.
I know this term…