WASHINGTON – It has ... well, a revolutionary name for a Web site, a founder with a history and deep pockets and recognizable partners - Colin Powell and Carly Fiorina. And, today, amid much hoopla, Steve Case launched Revolution Health’s Web site.

Out came announcements from a flock of well known partners in healthcare and elsewhere. The American Association of Family Physicians is on board. The organization has 94,000 members. IVillage, which has its own healthcare Web offering especially for women, announced its partnership with Revolution Health. Columbia University Medical Center is part of the revolution, too, along with several others.

“Revolution Health is recognizing the importance of a medical home where a physician practice serves as the focal point through which all patients receive acute, chronic, preventive and end-of-life medical care that is accessible, efficient and of the highest quality,” said Rick Kellerman, MD, president of the AAFP.

Revolution Health also announced its acquisition of CarePages, an online community for connecting family and friends of those coping with a health condition.

The Revolution Health Web site has already been up for three months. Today is the formal launch.

In a Webcast today, Steve Case, co-founder of AOL and chairman and CEO of Revolution Health, likened the test period to rehearsing for a Broadway play before opening night.

"We worked out some of the kinks, he said. The company also added new features, such as a health assessment test and ratings of doctors.  

The idea, he said, was to involve consumers in their own health.

"If you give us 10 minutes, we may be able to give you 10 more years of life.

"Revolutions don't happen overnight," Case warned.  

“While Revolution Health will be a journey over many years to come, we are excited today to launch a site that is the cornerstone of our efforts to revolutionize healthcare,” Case said in a statement today.  “There is a lot of great health information and tools on the Internet, but nobody has assembled them in a way that is compelling and useful for consumers who want to take more control of their family’s health.”

Moreover, he said, the content comes from a combination of many trusted sources.  

Glenn Galloway, CEO of Healthia Consulting in Minnesota agrees. He and his wife have a 7-year-old and a 4-year-old. It’s hard to find the right information quickly online, he said.

“Data searches are so fragmented,” he said.

Beyond a data search, Galloway sees the need for one place to aggregate the family’s medical records.

His 7-year-old daughter already has already accumulated 12 separate records from 12 different places.

Case envisions just such a site. He wants to make Revolution Health the place to manage their health.

Search engine giant Google announced recently it planned to make its healthcare queries more productive. WebMD Health has high online traffic – 40 million users a month. But Case claims a new model – a site that offers more than data searches.

RevolutionHealth.com is a free site that offers the best health information, treatment advice and more than 125 online tools, Case says. More than one million people tested the site in preview mode, he notes, and their input has helped improve the site for today’s formal launch.

Case has put $100 million of his own money into the project. He expects payback via ad sales and subscription sales.

Analysts say it still may take several years to build the brand.