Avvo, the West Side blog started in 2007 by Gonzaga University grad Mark Britton, is expanding into ranking doctors.

Avvo, a Latin word for "advocate," started out and continues as an online forum for people to rank attorneys.

Starting this week, Avvo will offer rankings of doctors, drawing on public records and company research into doctors' backgrounds and experience.

Both groups, doctors and lawyers, are scored on a 1 to 10 ranking. The rankings result from a variety of measures, but include comments by others.

The available documents being used by Avvo cover 800,000 doctors — 90 percent of the licensed doctors in the country, along with medical question and answer forums.

Britton, a former Expedia executive and general counsel, said the effort has taken about eight months to incorporate the physician data.

Avvo has about 70 employees and is based in Seattle. It makes money through online ads and draws about two million visitors a month. It generates 160,000 referrals to lawyers per month, Britton said.

 

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