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Insurer Aetna tapped Healthline to provide a platform for Aetna's customers to find answers to questions about coverage, physicians, and medications.

The real accomplishment health-oriented websites might make will be with the friends they keep. Though this may be to the dismay of Microsoft, which runs HealthVault, and Google, which has a pilot project with the Cleveland Clinic, the old adage of who you know will matter more to people looking for an option to manage their healthcare information online.

Healthline scored a big win in finding a friend in major health insurer Aetna, and that company’s 30,000 members. We interviewed Healthline CEO West Shell about the new partnership.

Healthline sees 5 million unique visitors per month, and drew 70 million in 2007. People have been voting with their browsing and clicking on the model of looking to a dedicated vertical site for specific information.

Shell said a big percentage of visitors are focusing on diseases and conditions, as they seek to understand these issues better. Healthline recently launched drug search, which Shell said has been receiving good page views to date.

The advantage Healthline gives to Aetna members, in Shell's estimation, comes from having lots of rich data available to deliver better search results through the portal. "It's going to make the process of finding information quicker and easier," he said.

A couple of other aspects of the Healthline platform should gain it approval from Aetna's membership. Users of the portal will be able to identify drug interactions, important to know when one has to take multiple medications. One only needs to recall the recent passing of actor Heath Ledger to realize the importance of this.

But Healthline brings in another aspect that poses an interesting take on medical care, one many people may not even consider. Pricing transparency for services physicians provide will be valuable for those who require a procedure, and have to bear a portion of the cost for it.

We're going to anticipate stepped up competition from health verticals for similar deals with major health insurers. Working out a licensing deal with someone like a Blue Cross will be a tremendous boost for whoever wins the day, to the benefit of the organization's membership.