At the conference I met David Vinson who (unlike yours truly) did successfully sell his benefits comparison analysis company to WebMD and now is running their private portal business for plans. Finally all the stuff I was trying to sell at i-Beacon is coming true and WebMD has convinced Empire, now Wellpoint and others to do this on an ASP basis. They are integrating the PHR, claims and benefit information, and a bunch of stuff creating a consumer CRM experience–all of which I’ve talked about at length, and done so bitterly.

Below is what I say about it in FierceHealthcare today

For many years health insurers have struggled (or refused) to represent the information they have about their members back in useful form to their members. In an era of on-line banking and airline reservations systems, health plans have been badly behind. Finally this trend may be changing, with WebMD Health, on an ASP basis, leading the provision of personal health records, personalized health information and tools and benefit information directly linked to members claims and service use. Senior VP at WebMD Health, David Vinson told an audience at the Information Therapy conference in Utah that the service is up and running at Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield, with other partnerships announced — including one with health insurance giant Wellpoint.