Microsoft has launched its new consumer health portal which is something of a cross between WebMD and Life Record. In other words, HealthVault both lets you search for general health related information and store your own personal health data online.

What does a software company know about medicine? Well, Microsoft has partnered with groups ranging from the American Heart Association to the Mayo Clinic. When you search for a disease, symptoms, or pretty much anything else you'll get results from those institutions, Wikipedia, the web, and sponsors. If you sign up for an account, you can also save results in a 'scrapbook."

As for your personal date, that will be stored in an encrypted database. You can set your privacy controls so that only you'll be able to see your records, or you can share them with family members or others. Searches data is not associated with your user account.

If you're not itching to come home from the doctor's office and type all of your data into a website, fret not. Microsoft is reaching out to doctors, encouraging them to submit your information directly to the website to improve communication between doctors and patients. In other words, you won't have to make a phone call to get the results of your latest test. You'll be able to go online. If Jay Parkinson is Doctor 2.0, then Microsoft wants HealthVault to be medicine 2.0.

Google is also working on a health-related offering, but there's no word on when the service will launch.

[via The New York Times and istartedsomething]