The AOL-ization of healthcare

AOL founder Steve Case has picked a dream team of big names with "interesting" pasts for his new start-up, Revolution Health. On the board are Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard; Franklin Raines, who was ousted from Fannie Mae; Steve Wiggins, the man who built and was later ousted from Oxford Health Plans; former Netscape CEO Jim Barksdale; and former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who's performance at the UN in 2003 may have prepared him well for the healthcare market.

True to form, Case brashly says he will revolutionize healthcare using the same vision and drive he brought to the table at America Online. The plan is to basically do what WebMD does, but do it bigger, better and more profitably. A look at the pieces he's assembled so far: MyDNA Media (health related content), 1-800-Schedule (physician referral and appointment scheduling service), Simo Software (healthcare spending) and Wondir (a search engine linking surfers to health experts). Healthcare veterans may be excused for not holding their breaths.

- see this article from The Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)

PLUS: Case and Co. may or may not be the winners, but AOL-ization (er, rather consumerization) is leading to rapid growth in in-store clinics for primary care. Article (Wall Street Journal sub. req.)

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