Buying Medical Services? See Carol

Carol is not the name of your new receptionist. But she may be your new marketing staff. A new Web site called carol.com based in Minneapolis debuted this month online. The Web portal offers packages for medical care "shopping," listed by body part or searchable in a database. A search for "radiation" brought up several cancer diagnosis and treatment alternatives.

According to the Web site, until now, you were told where you could go and who you could see. But now you can choose. The premise is a push by many health care reformers — putting consumer choice into health care. In general, the Carol site is limited in services and is still in development.