Revolution Health: ambitious, as it should be

Revolution Health has finally launched its preview version. And it looks good. It is one the first serious attempts at building "the" healthcare 2.0 site, offering much needed, still missing features in healthcare such as consumer ratings of providers (which ideally should be coupled with hard data on outcomes) and social networking tools.

They are making a lot of noise, too. Steve Case is everywhere and so are many of RH employees, actively commenting on every blog that mentions their company. There seems to be a strategy behind this. Like all things web 2.0, RH´s play is subject to a significant network effect. They are in a race to build a large base of installed users before competitors-to-be make their moves. They also need to manage consumer expectations. And they are playing it by the book: using penetration pricing (free memberships and other inducements to participate), leveraging Case´s reputation (as someone who built something so big as AOL), making product preannouncements. They are ambitious and very active in communicating and praising their company - the right way to play this game.

Among the many challenges they face, two stand out. First, how to engage consumers of healthcare services and have them coming back regularly in a matter that is not recreational. Second, how to create synergies among the different service lines they offer (a must in order to compete with pure plays that might attack each of its components).

And of course, there´s also always the tricky issue of how to make money, with a business model that appears to be based on ad revenue, with subscription services as a much smaller complement. If they do succeed in becoming the market leader, though, this model is not only viable but also potentially very profitable, by providing access to very targeted audiences of highly valuable and motivated consumers.

Strong retaliation from WebMD is coming. Google Health (as of today!) is still in the works ...

Alea iacta est ...