Insider Chatter by Donna Bogatin

Google’s search domination plans depend upon not only its “new and improved” Universal Search, but all manner of vertically targeted specialty search as well: Mobile, local, video…HEALTH!

While Google’s “Health Architect,” aka Adam Bosworth, Google VP Engineering, continues his cross-country road show prostylizing for a Google-centric U.S. healthcare system via medical conference keynotes sponsored by Google AND waxes (not so) poetic at the Google blog on a powered by Google consumerization of the medical sector, competitor Healthline is making REAL medical moves, big who needs Google Health ones.

“The search box is bad for your health!” Healthline CEO West Shell told me yesterday. Take that, Google, number one search engine and would be “organizer” of the world’s medical information.

The Healthline tag line is “Connect to better health.” How so? In an apparently very Googley way. Shell told me Healthline is a technology company “which is transforming the way consumers interact with all types of health information.”

EXACTLY how Adam Bosworth sees Google’s role! What’s more, who needs Google medical search, given that Healthline touts it combines “advanced search technology with deep medical expertise” to empower consumers to “make more confident, informed decisions.”

Healthline is not waging its battle for health information services leadership alone. Healthline announced $21 million in strategic financing yesterday AND a series of syndication deals with “blue-chip” consumer facing businesses impacting diverse touch points in the medical services sector.

I spoke with Shell to find out how Healthline’s new partners, and money, will help grow the “medically guided search platform.” Healthline:

Secured $21 million in Series B financing led by GE/NBC Universal’s Peacock Equity Fund, a joint venture between GE Commercial Finance’s Media, Communications & Entertainment business and NBC Universal. The round also includes strategic financing from Aetna Ventures, LLC, Kaiser Permanente Ventures, U.S. News and World Report, and previous investors VantagePoint Venture Partners and Reed Elsevier Ventures.

Healthline marks a major expansion of its partner network to include collaboration with NBC Universal’s iVillage Total Health and agreements to power health information services on Aetna, AOL, and Ask.com.

“Search the Web’s best health sites,” destination site Healthline.com solicits. The Web’s health care consumers will now be able to intelligently navigate health information at other online destinations as well. Shell:

Top publishers, portals, search engines and health plans all partner with Healthline to deliver exactly what consumers are looking for in health informaion search; trusted, comprehensive and relevant medical information that enables them to make bettter healthcare decisions.

Who needs Google Health then? Well, actually Healthline itself apparently needs Google to stay healthy. Healthline’s monetization strategy includes Google AdSense.

Irony of health advertising ironies: Even new strategic investor and distribution partner NBC Universal is paying Google to serve text ads at Healthline, aimed at driving consumers to iVillage.

WANT THE REAL SCOOP ON WHAT ADAM BOSWORTH IS ARCHITECTING FOR GOOGLE HEALTH? SEE: Google Sicko Timeline: Attack, Retract, Pander

PLUS: How Commtouch Wins in Google Postini Enterprise Battle and Google Facebook Hookup: Social Graph Privacy Minefield

CONTACT DONNA BOGATIN