Web-Based Information for Doctors

SKOLAR, MD Feasibility Study

Is There a Business in Web-based Information for Doctors?

7/25/2010

Sherif Maher

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Table of contents:

1. Executive Summary

2. Situation Analysis & Market Segmentation

3. Proposed Solution

4. Recommendations

5. Appendix

6. Bibliography

1. Executive Summary

There is always a need for doctors to access medical information for the sake of their patients. In USA, there are more than 600,000 Doctors; almost half of them are primary care doctors serving a continuously increasing number of patients. The low experience and knowledge of the primary care doctors increase the demanding for fast medical information rather than great time consuming, searching in deep textbooks and medical journals. During the 1990’s, the continuous development in computer and internet technology obtain an opportunity to providing a reasonably fast web-based source of information. This solution can also improve the continuous medical education (CME) which was in need for updated information sources in addition to the ordinary traditional textbooks.

SKOLAR is a company established in the year 1999 by Stanford medical school with capital of $750,000. They hired Lippe as a CEO who could raise an additional $2.2 Million from Stanford, and other investors. The company’s mission was simply creating a commercial version of the beta prototype web-based source of information system that had been in use by Stanford since 1998.

The commercial version, named SKOLAR MD, was ready for launching by September 2000. The product was well designed to meeting the market needs and resolving all the obstacles that prevented the previous trials from penetrating the market. The question was “what is the best way to access the market?”

The following is a feasibility study to see if they should further...