An Ad Model That Works

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Swierzewski had doubts about whether banner ads could support his business. So he drew up a business plan that would.

Unlike sites that post information straight from drug and device manufacturers, Healthcommunities gets its content from physicians, who contract with the company. The client doctors then work with Healthcommunities staff members to customize their own personal Web pages, offering such things as physicians' biographies, office hours, and information about the procedures they use to treat their patients. Some sites provide medical forms that patients can fill out at home instead of in the waiting room. Site users can't purchase anything, and they don't see banners streaming across the page.

According to Dr. Roscoe Nelson, a urologist in Scottsdale, Ariz., who signed on with Healthcommunities to produce a site for his practice, the fact that the actual commerce on his site is transparent to the user is significant. "The problem that I see with the Internet in medicine is that a large percentage of the sites are selling things," says Nelson. He feels that for many patients such product pitches detract from the credibility of the information that's being offered. Patients who visit his site and view the doctor-generated content before arriving at his office "come in with good questions," he says. And because his patients learn a lot of basic information on the site, Nelson can spend more time talking with them about specific issues. "I can personalize the time I spend with them in the office," he says.

Although Nelson feels comfortable that his site isn't acting as an electronic pitchman to needy patients, he does acknowledge the potential ethical conflict involved in being sponsored by a pharmaceutical company. But he doesn't believe that he's been unduly influenced by that connection. "They made me a no-strings-attached offer," he says of his site's sponsors. "I don't think there's been any effect on my prescribing or treating habits based on the time that I've spent with sponsors. I prescribe the drugs that are medically indicated."

Swierzewski is betting that both the physicians and the companies that are marketing to them will continue to see the value in his offering. And unlike the founders of some of the big-name health dot-coms, Swierzewski is growing his company organically. He started it with a personal investment of $60,000 and has relied solely on its revenues for growth -- much to the chagrin of the capital community. "They told me that I wasn't spending enough," he says. Despite his lack of outside funding, Swierzewski expects to grow the company from 60 employees to 100 by the end of this month.

All that growth, and Swierzewski still has time to remove kidney stones? Despite his foray onto the Web, the doc says he's determined to maintain an active urology practice. "There may come a time when I have to choose," he says. But for now he spends his days logging time both on the computer and in the operating room.

Anne Marie Borrego is an assistant editor at The Chronicle of Higher Education.

With no fanfare and little venture money, the companies profiled here are delivering real stuff to paying customers and making a buck in the process. There may not be any "new rules," but there are rules, and we suspect every one of them will look familiar.

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