I agree with most of your points, because they are all well proven already in the technology startup world.  Health 2.0 is just one sliver of that world.  Of course, this doesn't mean that people shouldn't dream and try to make millions off of healthcare.  The fact that someone with $250 million has failed to make it big doesn't mean anything other than Health 2.0 is no different than other startups.  I think someone will hit it big in the Health 2.0 space.  It's just a matter of when and who. 

Plus, while metrics and proven models are nice, they aren't probably what will make a great Health 2.0 company.  Google when it started didn't have metrics or a proven model and they seem to be doing alright.  My guess is that a company in the Health 2.0 space will get lucky like Google too and happen upon a good business model that wasn't seen before they tried.

Normally I leave Dmitriy's bizarre wofflings alone, but because he's directly "pointed the finger at me" it's time to respond.

While there may be a demise in Steve Case's investment, Dmitry proves yet again that his professional jealousy - as a software geek with no background in understanding the healthc are system, and the creator of a failed conference about blogging --gets in the way of his limited analytical skills of what he claims I've been saying about Health 2.0.

 Had he paid attention during the Health 2.0 Conference in 2007 which he attended he would have noticed that the audience was asked what would be the future of the search, social networking, & consumer tools that made up Health 2.0. The response was that 70% felt that these tools would be adopted by mainstream health care companies, rather than become a standalone industry.

Had he paid attention at the end of the dotcom boom and bust he would have noticed that with the exception of Amazon, E-Bay,Yahoo,  and a few other media business, by far the biggest adoption of the Internet tools was by mainstream companies which spent the next five years changing how they ran their businesses and connected with their customers. While the Pets.com & Webvan bust bust was going on, the proportion of Americans (and everyone else) going online and using Web tools for information and commerce continued to grow exponentially Has Dmitriy bought an airline ticket or checked his bank account in the last ten years?

Had Dmitriy been paying attention now he'd have noticed that the proportion of online Americans (and others) using the Internet for social media/Web 2.0/Health 2.0 purposes has gone from virtually none 3 years ago to over 60% today.

If, as seems unlikely, Dmitriy pays attention in the future, he'll see a similar adoption of tools that make up Health 2.0 by all players in health care, including those which have no interest in profit like the VA, and the UK national health service, as well as by major American for -proft health plans and providers. There may or may not be some remaining independent media companies that emerged during this latest wave, but if Dmitriy was paying attention this week he's have noticed ComScore's report that visits to health care properties are up over 20%.

As I have been saying all along, Health 2.0 is about a participatory change in how consumers/patients/citizens relate to each other, and to the health care system. It's not just about anyone including Steve Jobs trying to get rich without doing anything worthwhile.  Because Dmitriy's conference wasn't a success doesn't mean that blogging is not important. But  because  the Health 2.0 Conference has been a success does not mean it has been hyping the creation of a standalone industry in which every new venture would be successful.

But then again this analysis would require that Dmitriy pay attention to large underlying phenomenon, not just get overexcited about Steve Case losing a few bucks .

Rev Health is NOT a good example of why the entire Health 2.0 movement is a farse.  There are several reasons why Rev Health failed that you did not mention.  You gave too much credit to the company stating they acquired companies, and copied all the good stuff out there, and then had $250m to burn and they still couldn't make it... i.e. they gave it a better try than most companies could yet couldn't make it fly and thus Health 2.0 is over-rated. 

Here are the facts of the matter:

1. Rev Health was started by a guy who had grand vision but no clarity on how to execute on that vision.  A guy who's hubris blinded him from the reality that he imght benefit from listening to people with experience in the healthcare industry who know how to change it.  If you know anything about the healthcare industry you know this:  1.) be patient, persistent, and perservant.  2.) spend you money wisely in order to sustain for the long-haul because it's going to be a long-term play. 3.)  Identify the insiders who want to be change agents but need the political, financial, and cultural backing to make it happen.     Rev Health with SC at the helm ignored each of these backbone requirements of a successful play.

2. The original CEO....Steve hired a marketing guy with amazing intellect and charisma (he could sell ice to eskimos), even vision, but no ability to stop himself from changing his mind/direction of the company, and no experience whatsoever in the healthcare industry space.   oops..... there goes the treasure chest of $$ and employee morale.

3. The Board of Directors-- imagine our President creating a Foreign Relations Committee comprised of people with no experience in that area (sort of like choosig Palin as VP-- sorry couldn't help myself).   Rev Health BOD was comprised of powerful business-people with absolutely no experience in the health industry space excluding Steve Wiggins of Oxford health who apparently sold his stock and made millions just before the company went belly up.  Now that's integrity for you.

4.  Portal-- Despite the heavy financial investment in products, services, and personnel, the portal was nothing new and many felt a poor user experience.  Too much time spent re-doing products in response to the flippant decision making from the original CEO.  As a result you had a product with poor navigation, unoriginal content, basic tools, rudimentary phr, and a community that originated from acquired websites who were fleeing the 'new destination called Rev Health' in the tens of thousands.   Not very exciting and certainly not 'revolutionary'.  

 4.  Burn rate-- The first CEO, John Pleasants went through the vast majority of cash before they even launched their website....making deals with the likes of Mayo and others, buying large capacity servers that never reached above single digit capacity etc etc. 

 5.  Senior Management-- take a look at the original and subsequent Senior Mngment team.....only the Chief Privacy Officer had experience in healthcare and was worth her salt.  The others....Jay Silverstein....great vision/intellect but not an operator and couldn't manage his team, and a former Oxford guy who divested like Wiggins just before the collapse of Oxford.   Jef f Gruen a 'once upon a time' doctor who became an insurance executive and wouldn't hesitate to his mother to a terroist for an extra penny.   These tribal fractions engaged in turf battles such that the infighting left the middle-management unable to execute.... burn baby burn.  

6. Bus Plan-- did you notice that I haven't mentioned their well thought out bus plan.  Well....apparently there was never a business plan created...yikes!

7. Rev Health phase 2-- if you followed the newspaper clippings you'd notice that the CEO was replaced with Steve as acting CEO and his right hand man Ron Klain (attorney) as the day to day guy.  Klain was afraid of his own shadow so nothing novel or 'revolutionary' could ever be considered for fear they might upset the medical establishment-- as if they even noticed Rev Health was in existence. 

They finally replaced the senior team with reasonable folks with some ability to engage in a 'turn around' which was desparately needed.  Unfortunately,  by the time that phase 2 turnaround folks stepped in, the treasure chest had been spent, morale was in the toilet, and there was no vision or funds to create the 'new content play' or 'novel B2B play' .  

 Bottom line-- indeed there is incredible hype about the 'power of health 2.0' and not a single example of a successful business model in the marketplace YET but whatever you do, don't look to Rev Health as an example of a group of guys/gals that had all the right ingredients and still couldn' t make it work.   Look at Rev Health as an example of what NOT to do.  It'll be a GREAT business school case study indeed.

p.s. you got to feel abit sorry for Steve..afterall most of the cash invested was out of his bank account but then again....think of the hundreds of folks that believed Steve's repeated rhetoric that he was here for the long-term play and travelled the world to join him in his long-term and revolutionary play.   Once they arrived, they begged and pleaded with him to slow down the burn rate (early in the game when the treasure chest was still full) but his hubris blinded him from the hard reality.....