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"Stop me if you've heard this one: You don't feel so great. You look up your symptoms online. You conclude you have an exotic disease and probably have only weeks to live.\nAs capable as WebMD is, in times like this you could use the advice of real doctor. That's where HealthTap comes in \u2014 it's a network or physicians who all make themselves available to anyone for medical advice online. Just pose your question to the network, and someone will answer, usually within a minutes. It's free, as long as you don't mind posting in a public forum.\nIf you'd like something more one-on-one, though, that's available, starting today. HealthTap is launching a service where doctors will answer your private questions for a fee. Just pick a doctor from one of the network's U.S.-licensed physicians, send your question, and medical advice is delivered straight to your inbox.\nAsking a private question to a doctor costs $9.99, and that includes a follow-up question (you can hit them again on a related question for another $4.99). While that's more than your average app, it's still less than your average co-pay. And you can attach photos to your questions if you want the doctor to have a good look at that bug bite before they answer.\nHealthTap CEO Ron Gutman sees the idea of online medical advice nothing short of revolutionary. The idea that anyone can get real doctors to answer questions without going to a doctor's office, pay for it with micropayments, and do it in a way that's completely removed from the world of insurance companies \u2014 has a lot going for it.\n\"Studies show most people think medical information they get online is useless,\" Gutman told Mashable. \"But they do trust doctors. However, we didn't find one place online where doctors came online in large numbers to interact with patients. We thought this was a really amazing opportunity.\"\n\nSEE ALSO: What Doctors Think About Your Online Health Searches\nSince its launch a year ago, HealthTap has expanded from a few doctors specialized in pediatrics and obstetrics to 12,000 in 112 specialties in all 50 states. Doctors have flocked to HealthTap, Gutman says, because of the potential boost to their reputation, the fact that there's no influence from advertisers (such as pharmacuetical companies), and the opportunity to help patients in new ways.\n\"I think they believe what we're doing is authentic,\" says Gutman. \"It's something that we're really passionate about. And we bring the physicians into the conversation. It's the only startup ever that has five physicians.\"\nA key component of that conversation is that physicians can rate each other on the network. Whereas patients can only push a \"thank\" button for physicians who gave them good advice, fellow doctors can hit \"agree.\" The more agrees a doctor gets, the more his or her reputation rises.\nIt sounds a bit like eBay feedback for doctors, but Gutman says it's more sophisticated than that. Each doctor has a DocScore, which measures puts together many factors \u2014 the doctor's medical school, residency, publications \u2014 as well as how their reputation among the HealthTap community to come up with an overall ranking.\nIn addition to the web, HealthTap has apps on iPhone, iPad and Android, and the new versions \u2014 with the paid services \u2014 are available today.\nDo you think you'd ever use HealthTap's service? What for? Have your say in the comments.\nImage courtesy of iStockphoto, hocus-focus"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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