We recently invested in Alliance Health Networks based in Salt Lake City, an exciting company that is using the power of social networks to provide patients of chronic conditions the ability to support one another through an open discussion of patient experiences.  Their first network, Diabetic Connect, has over 50,000 diabetes patient that participate in discussions about their disease and the effectiveness of various treatment options.  The site generates revenue from healthcare providers who want to join the conversation by providing the patient community with information about treatment and care options for their conditions.

The Company believes that part of the solution to our country’s health challenges will include more active and informed patients participating in their own treatment and care decisions for their condition, and that a vital part of making that participation meaningful and beneficial will be through the creation of secure and private social networks that allow patients to effectively and openly communicate about their experiences with a particular chronic condition and related treatments.  The Company has developed a discussion and marketing platform that will allow the quick creation of a large number if condition social network sites that provide specific benefits for many chronic conditions ranging from sleep disorders, arthritis, obesity, IBS, and other chronic afflictions.

For us, the most important element in any of our investments is the team behind the business.  Founder Geoff Swindle and Stead Burwell serve the Alliance as President and CEO respectively, and provide the company with passionate and dedicated leadership based on extensive life and business experiences.  Geoff and Stead have brought together an excellent marketing, operations, and patient advocate staff that we believe will create a valuable and worthwhile enterprise providing exceptional value to patients, providers, and investors.

We look forward to partnering with the Alliance Health Networks team to build an important and successful company that “passionately serves consumers and healthcare marketers by creating and growing mutually rewarding connections between consumers seeking to manage their health and the products, services, and solutions that match their needs”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009 at 1:09 pm and is filed under Portfolio. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.