Vitals (website)
 | |
| Founded | 2007 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Lyndhurst, New Jersey, United States |
| Industry | Doctor ratings and reviews, healthcare transparency tools for healthcare industry |
| Services | Health provider and medical facility search service |
| Parent | MDx Medical, Inc. |
| Slogan(s) | Helping people shop for healthcare like an expert |
| Website |
www |
| Alexa rank |
 2,471 (US September 2016) |
| Current status | Active |
Vitals is an online resource for patients to find doctors and medical facilities. The site focuses on doctors, dentists, psychologists, urgent care centers, group practices and hospitals. Vitals claims to collect over 1.4 billion points of data on doctors,[1] including patient reviews. It differentiates itself by remaining free for both consumers and doctors to use.
Originally launched in 2008, Vitals has grown to be the 13th largest health website according to comScore, and peaked as the 362nd most visited website in the United States.[2] In addition to being a health provider and medical facility search service, the site provides content on preparing for a doctor visit and has scheduling tools for patients to book appointments with doctors online.
History
Vitals was co-founded in 2007 by Mitchel Rothschild, Todd Rosengart and Richard Forman. Rothschild claims the idea was born out of personally experiencing the complexity of finding a qualified physician for a surgery on his knee.[3]
Vitals has raised investment capital from Health Venture Group, Milestone Venture Partners, Greycroft Partners, Cross Atlantic Partners,[4] Cardinal Partners[5] and Health Venture Group[6] HEA and Athena,[7] and Health Enterprise Partners.[8] On June 18, 2013, Vitals closed $22 million in Series C funding. Investors participating in the round were Piper Jaffray, Cardinal Partners, Health Enterprise Partners, Milestone Ventures Partners and Greycroft Partners. Funding will be used to expand the Vitals consumer footprint and includes better data, more tools, helping consumers know the cost of their healthcare and developing decision-support tools for health insurance choice.
According to the company’s press releases, Vitals was awarded a Red Herring Top 100 award and a Build 100 award in 2014. Kiplinger Magazine named Vitals the Best Health Review Site in 2011.[9] CNN’s Money Magazine named the company the best doctor site in February 2010 and Forbes called Vitals one of the “Five Health Shopping Web Sites Worth Watching” in June, 2010.[10]
Business Model
Revenues for Vitals are generated by ad sales and by selling direct services to physicians, health care facilities and insurances.
Criticism
Vitals has been criticized along with Avvo and other doctor-review sites for allowing reviews to be posted about doctors anonymously.[11] Vitals claims that reviews submitted by users are systemically screened for defamatory or inflammatory remarks. They also have a Physician Relations team that investigates suspicious reviews.
References
- ↑ "Vitals - Find a Doctor, Doctor Reviews & Ratings". vitals.com.
- ↑ "Vitals.com Traffic and Demographic Statistics by Quantcast". quantcast.com.
- ↑ "Vitals.com finds physicians, draws first institutional VC round". October 13, 2008.
- ↑ "Vitals.com Closes on $4 Million in Financing, Fueling Accelerated Growth and Building on the Company's Rapid Expansion". prnewswire.com. Archived from the original on 9 January 2014. Retrieved 13 October 2008.
- ↑ "Cardinal Partners - Portfolio", cardinalpartners.com
- ↑ "Health Venture Group, LLC - Transactions". healthventuregroup.com. Archived from the original on 20 March 2012.
- ↑ "HEA and Athena - List of Healthcare IT Investments in 2011", emrthoughts.com indoglobalhealth.com
- ↑ "Enterprise Partners". hepfund.com. Archived from the original on 30 August 2012.
- ↑ Kiplinger Magazine kiplinger.com
- ↑ "Five Health Shopping Web Sites Worth Watching", forbes.com
- ↑ Deardorff, Julie (November 15, 2010). "Doctors: Web ratings flawed". Chicago Tribune.