A Waconia-based website that aims to be a matchmaker between patients and healthcare providers announced last week that it's received a $1 million angel investment to help expand its services.
WellClicks.com lets consumers search for physicians and other health and wellness providers by criteria such as location, specialty, gender, and years of experience. Providers, meanwhile, pay to be included in the search results.
Mark Prondzinski and Lisa Suchy launched a limited pilot version of the service in July 2009 with backing from Ridgeview Medical Center in Waconia. Up to now the site has only covered providers in the southwest metro.
The site's usage has been "low to moderate," but with a limited marketing budget and small geographic area, they didn't expect an overnight blockbuster. The goal was only to prove the concept for investors.
"Our objective now, with the investment funds, is to expand the concept, both from the product side and from a geographic point of view, and then really try to turn the business model into something that is profitable and see and realize some of our longer-term business objectives," Prondzinski said. "It's not a tremendously huge amount, but it's enough to help us take the next steps down that path."
WellClicks.com is the first product from
CreateHealth, a for-profit healthcare innovation center created and spun off by Ridgeview Medical Center in 2007. Prondzinski, who previously interned in the hospital's operations department, was tapped with Suchy to co-found the center.
Source: Mark Prondzinski, WellClicks.com
Writer:
Dan Haugen