HealthCentral Gets a Boost
|
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
Arlington start-up HealthCentral last week received an investment that may boost its efforts to compete with better-known rivals WebMD and Revolution Health.
The funding came from Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp, which took a minority stake in the company. Specific terms were not disclosed.
HealthCentral seeks to offer more than the routine clinical advice found on many health Web sites, said chief executive Chris Schroeder, who is a former chief executive of Washington Post.Newsweek Interactive. For example, it has hired "patient experts" -- well-known advocates for people with certain ailments -- as bloggers to discuss questions like: How do you find a babysitter who knows about juvenile diabetes? How should a husband care for a wife who has breast cancer?
The bloggers will include pop culture in posts. After the final Sopranos episode, he said, the most searched health-related term on the Web was "Sopranos and Depression" after the illness was discussed on the show.
"People want to know: 'Is that real?' " Schroeder said.
-- Zachary A. Goldfarb
