Google's new medical records system won't be ad supported, but that doesn't mean healthcare won't be an advertising bonanza for the search giant.

When Google CEO Eric Schmidt announced the program to healthcare professionals, he was adamant that ads would not be part of the equation.

But a story in The New York Times points to a rather obvious -- and potentially lucrative -- avenue for monetizing the healthcare space: search.

"Presumably parts of Google Health, like most everything Google does, will have a box that can be used to launch a web search," New York Times correspondent Saul Hansell wrote. "The search results pages, of course, will have Google's standard ads."

Marrying a more refined and dedicated search function with the healthcare industry -- one of the largest advertising segments in the U.S. economy -- could help Google generate a lot of revenue, all without having to serve ads alongside personal healthcare information.

Of course, Google isn't alone in a space that is largely dominated by WebMD. Google's chief rival, Microsoft, has also been linked to the space. Last August, Google and Microsoft both announced that they planned to enter the healthcare information market.