Web Companies Warming to Health Care

At a meeting with analysts last month, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said, "Those products are coming along. We've got a lot of great hospitals interested in our products. And I think it's probably longer term and less visible, but is an important area certainly that I track quite closely."

In a Q&A on Microsoft's site, Peter Neupert, the executive in charge of the 600-large staff working on health care initiatives in Redmond, Wash., said Microsoft sees opportunities in uniting the fragmented, proprietary information systems at most hospitals.

"A typical U.S. hospital has multiple different information systems, most of which don't work together very well," Neupert said. "Combined with powerful and mobile hardware, and increasingly available broadband connectivity," he added, newer technologies can help "bridge the gap between systems so patients and caregivers can access the information they need securely no matter where it is stored."

It's still unclear which of the new applications will work and which won't. But what is clear is that the new generation of Internet companies dealing with health care is moving toward a simple interface that allows patients to have more visibility on their options and their medical records.

There will be the usual speed bumps: the hoary old companies threatened with change -- in this case insurance companies and HMOs -- will try to strike back. And because health records are the most personal of personal data, privacy safeguards will need to be employed early on.

Still, the trend is encouraging not only for patients, but for investors: For a start-up that, like Google and Amazon, organizes a chaotic sea of options, data or pricing into an elegant, simple interface, that would mean a billion-dollar champion is in the making.

Whether that champion is ultimately Revolution, WebMD or a profitable new arm of Microsoft's operations, the opportunity is now there for the winner to take it all.

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