Forget about WebMD...

The WSJ reports in "Prognosis Positive: Web Health Ventures" from May 25, 2006 how vast sums of venture capital are being poured into health-related websites.

During the technology boom, medical-related Internet ventures were promoted as one answer to health care's woes, promising great efficiencies for the industry and creating better-informed patients, But with few exceptions, like WebMD Health Corp., those efforts largely failed.

Now, a growing number of Internet health-care ventures are finding new support from technology investors. Venture firms like Battery Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Trinity Ventures, VantagePoint Venture Partners and others are backing Internet-based companies targeted at the health-care industry.

"This is the hottest space in the Internet," said West Shell, chairman and chief executive of Healthline Networks Inc., which runs health-care search engine healthline.com. The San Francisco company raised $14 million in financing this year from VantagePoint and others.

Another company attracting investors is Healthia Inc., a "comparison-shopping" company for health-care products and services...

Healthia, for example, has built a database of physicians, hospitals, insurance plans and other health-care vendors. The site's intent is to allow users to compare prices, service and quality, and then use the site to connect with the company or physician providing the best deal. It may collect a fee when a match is made between customer and vendor...

"What we are about is comparison shopping," said co-founder and Chief Executive Chini Krishnan. "We want to bring the whole notion of marketplace dynamics, including transparency, to the process of health purchases."

I'm really interested in Healthia since I'm currently working on a comparison-shopping project. And whether or not the doomsday predictions of a depression or deep recession comes true, there are enough people who will use the net to find the very best deals on all kinds of things.

Shifting gears, let's consider what's behind this obscene investment of real money in websites that have potential profits: the shift toward consumer-based healthcare.

But he and other venture-capital investors say the Internet-business model is more mature than it was during the late 1990s. Further, they see the evolution of health care into a business in which consumers will be required to make more decisions -- and ultimately pick up more expense -- giving Web-based companies more opportunity to crack the health-care market.

Health care is one of the more-searched topics on the Internet. People seeking health-care information may begin their search with general-interest sites like Google and Yahoo. Investors say the opportunity for sites devoted to health care is in providing depth.

Another interesting site is LifeMed, which currently focuses on diabetes:

In August, Battery Ventures and other investors pumped $6.2 million into LifeMed Media Inc., which offers several multimedia products aimed at diabetics, including a Web site, a weekly television show and regular radio segments. The company earns revenue through advertising, and expects to break even this year, according to Chief Executive Howard Steinberg. He also says the company is investigating gaining a second revenue stream from marketing products and services to its 120,000 "members."

One site I'm not excited about is Healthline. Why? Because it's a search engine, and the big players like Google & Yahoo have this company beat with its health search features and by the fact that millions more people use those sites on a daily basis than Healthline. (And eyes are the prize on the Internet.)

Healthline similarly is counting on advertising to generate revenue. The company, which was founded in 1999 as yourdoctor.com, generates revenue through Google's Adsense program. The ads on Healthline, which appear along the top of search results, are tailored to the search query. For example, a search for "ear infection" produces eight advertisements with links, including Web sites for information about ear infection and a spa in New Jersey that provides ear cleaning.