SOURCE: Healthline Networks, Inc.

 

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - February 12, 2008) - Healthline Networks, a leading provider of intelligent health information services, has introduced new clinical applications, tools and content designed to empower consumers to make more informed decisions about their health and medications. Today's release includes new Healthline Drug Search, 170 interactive Healthline Tools, and a Healthline Marketplace to browse and purchase thousands of health products. Powered by Healthline Medically Guided Search™ technology and incorporating content from premier partners AHFS, HealthPricer, Natural Standard, and StayWell, the new products are available on the Company's consumer health search portal, Healthline.com (www.healthline.com), and to select partners within the Healthline Network.

"Healthline is excited to offer consumers the ability to access and effectively navigate world-class health content that has never been available on the consumer web before," said West Shell III, Chairman and CEO of Healthline Networks. "We continue to develop innovative products that leverage our diverse set of partners, to create a unique decision support system that helps consumers transition from traditional healthcare to today's self-care paradigm."

Healthline Drug Search

Drug management is a major challenge for any health care consumer, regardless of age, income, or education level. Developed by physicians and pharmacists, Healthline Drug Search helps consumers manage their medications more effectively, discover possible interactions, and research alternatives.

Healthline Drug Search features an exclusive blend of expert pharmaceutical content with evidence-based research on medicinal herbs and supplements, to provide consumers with a one-stop resource for basic, clinical and alternative drug information. Importantly, Healthline Drug Search includes a Drug Interaction Checker that will list possible interactions -- with other drugs, herbs, supplements and even foods -- based on your list of medications.

Healthline Drug Search also includes:

-- An FDA alert button to alert consumers with up-to-date information about the drug they are searching on, such as recalls, or newly discovered side effects.

-- Top questions, the "pharmacy window," with questions listed in a frequently-asked-questions (FAQ) format.

-- An image gallery with available photos of the drug, including the size, shape, color, and visible markings.

-- Pill finder lets a consumer fill out a profile of a drug -- such as its color, shape and visible markings -- to find out what type of medication it is.

Interactive Healthline Tools

Healthline now features 170 new risk assessments, quizzes and calculators, licensed primarily from StayWell, the world's largest consumer health information and patient education publisher. Designed to help consumers learn more about particular health topics, Healthline Tools are searchable by topic or tool type, with interactive results pages providing individualized feedback and guidance based on consumer inputs. Popular examples of these tools include a BMI calculator, a breast cancer risk assessment, and questions and answers about managing diabetes.

Healthline Marketplace

Created in partnership with HealthPricer, Healthline Marketplace offers consumers free, easy access to the Internet's largest inventory of health products, with more than 400,000 products from trusted merchants. Healthline Marketplace uses Healthline Medically Guided Search™ technology to connect relevant products to search results, so if a consumer searches for "pain relief," for example, the search results will now also include Healthline Marketplace recommendations for pain relief products.

New Content Partnerships

Healthline is the only site that applies Medically Guided Search™ technology to a partners' content, to create richer, more dynamic health information. The following three partners bring their world-class medical content to the consumer web for the first time, through the Healthline Network:

-- AHFS (the American Hospital Formulary System). Published by the American Society of Health System Pharmacists, AHFS is the authoritative desk reference for pharmacists everywhere.

-- Natural Standard is widely recognized as one of the world's premier sources of evidence-based information on complementary and alternative therapies, including herbs and supplements.

-- StayWell, a division of MediMedia USA, is the world's largest consumer health information and patient education publisher, with extensive experience serving consumers, physicians, hospitals, health plans, employers and associations. (To learn more about this partnership, see StayWell's related release: StayWell Content Assets Now Available on Healthline Network, February 12, 2008.)

"StayWell and Healthline share a commitment to provide up-to-date, trusted, and easy-to-understand health information to consumers, who -- research has shown -- are turning to the Internet for health information in greater numbers," said Michael Riley, Group President, StayWell. "We chose Healthline to be a consumer provider of our comprehensive StayWell content because the Healthline Medically Guided Search™ technology and user experience deliver superior results for health information seekers."

About Healthline Networks

Healthline Networks is the largest provider of intelligent health information services, enabling more than 15 million consumers a month to make more confident, informed healthcare decisions. The company's consumer healthcare taxonomy, the largest of its kind, powers a unique suite of intelligent health search, navigation and content services. Combining advanced search technology with deep medical expertise, Healthline partners with a network of trusted destination sites that include publishers, portals, search engines, employers and health plans. Headquartered in San Francisco, Healthline is backed by Aetna, GE/NBC, JHK Investments LLC, Kaiser Permanente, Mitsui & Co., Ltd., Reed Elsevier, US News & World Report, and VantagePoint Venture Partners. For more information, visit http://www.healthline.com.