BUSINESSSearch engines specialize in finding health info onlineThe companies creating them are challenging each other as well as hoping to compete with Google and other popular general Internet site finders.By Tyler Chin, AMNews staff. Nov. 21, 2005. Does the world need another search engine in a Google-mad world? Definitely, according to those behind search engines targeting only health information searches. Since June, three health search engines -- Healthline, Healia and Mamma.com Inc.-- have made their debut online. Few consumers are aware of these search engines because most online searchers use Google, Yahoo or MSN. But the specialized search-engine companies say there's a need because they can deliver more meaningful results than general-purpose search engines, or even each other. That's because, the health search-engine companies claim, they only look for sites that have health information, use internal criteria to handpick sites they believe offer high quality information or both. "Just like in the generic search-engine world, there's many different [health] search engines and they all have pros and cons," said Tom Eng, MPH, founder and CEO of Healia Inc., Bellevue, Wash., which launched its health search engine this summer. At this time, Healia is available only through employers, health care organizations and insurers that pay a fee to license its technology, offering it as a service to employees and members, Eng said. There are about a dozen health search engines that are being actively maintained, he estimates. One of them is Healthline, which debuted on Oct. 17. San Francisco-based Healthline was formerly known asYourDoctor.com -- a health information site founded in 1999 by James Norman, MD. [...]Full text of AMNews content is available to AMA members and paid subscribers.
Copyright 2005 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
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