To some it may be a small grant, but it's big news to Ann Arbor-based Cielo MedSolutions.

The health-care software company just received a $116,000 grant from the National Cancer Institute to develop new software. The Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer grant will be used to develop the next generation of an ambulatory clinical quality improvement system.

Cielo MedSolutions is teaming up with the University of Michigan Health System Department of Family Medicine to develop the new program, which will be based upon the company's flagship product.

"If we were awarded a Phase II of this grant, it would certainly bring a few jobs into the company," says Dave Morin, CEO of Cielo MedSolutions

The University of Michigan spin-off specializes in making sure doctors connect with their patients when its time for a checkup, test or treatment they might otherwise forget. It claims that the software, if used properly, can help cut down on unnecessary procedures and provide doctors with up to a 200 percent return on their investment.

The company, founded in 2005, has grown to 10 employees today and expects to expand to 60 to 80 employees, primarily in Ann Arbor, within four years by taking its product national.

In 2006, Cielo MedSolutions licensed its software and slowly began selling it in Michigan. Within 18 months Morin and his partner Jim Price realized their product's potential market was a lot bigger and are now planning to sell its health management software in eight states outside Michigan.

Source: Dave Morin, CEO of Cielo MedSolutions
Writer: Jon Zemke