Products April 16, 2007

AOL's Steve Case Embarks on Consumer Medical Web Site

April 16, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - America Online founder Steve Case is launching a consumer medical Web site that he hopes will be able to hold its weight in a market already heavy with players such as WebMD.com and NIH.gov.
Reported by

According to the New York Times, some of the features of RevolutionHealth.com include:

  • 1,500 medical conditions that can be sorted by the ailment or treatment, with related comments from experts and from other users of the site.
  • Information from the Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic and Harvard Medical School, which also have their own popular Web sites.
  • A directory of doctors by specialty and location, along with short reviews by patients.
  • The ability for users to create their own pages within RevolutionHealth.com for collecting personal and general information, which they can keep private or share as they choose.

The site will have its official debut Thursday and is part of Revolution Health Group, which Case founded two years after AOL’s ill-fated merger with Time Warner. According to the newspaper, the company’s other medical ventures include a stake in the growing RediClinic chain of retail health clinics operating in some Wal-Mart stores, Walgreen’s and other retail outlets around the country.

The Web site will be aimed primarily at women, who make up the lion’s share of Web health users. The site will have a Mom Central page for busy mothers who are trying to juggle their health, their children’s health, etc.

RevolutionHealth.com will also promote personal health records by giving consumers a place to assemble their medical information, bringing the company in line with efforts by others such as WebMD.com and insurers such as Aetna, the Times reported.

Never miss a story — sign up for PLANSPONSOR newsletters to keep up on the latest retirement plan benefits news.

«