
Tom Henke, a former high-level executive at health insurer Medica, is looking to raise more than $2 million for the home diagnostics company, QuickCheck Health Inc., that he started last year.
QuickCheck raised about $264,000 so far, according to a federal Securities & Exchange Commission filing. The company is seeking Food & Drug Administration clearance for devices that people can use at home to test whether a sore throat is strep, for example. Urinary tract infection is something else people might test for at home.
Henke declined to comment on Thursday. In an interview last year, however, he said it’s been possible for years for people to test themselves for simple ailments; the hurdle has always been that physicians can’t trust that patients will give accurate reports of the results. They might simply want an antibiotics prescription — no matter what.

QuickCheck’s devices get around that issue because a person using one of the test devices doesn’t get a positive or negative result. The device spits out a code that the patient enters on a website or reads over the phone to a call-center representative. QuickCheck is in the process of assembling a network of health providers who will initiate immediate online clinic visits to provide prescriptions for antibiotics or other needed medications if the code turns out to be positive.
Henke himself has a strong resume. Medica is one of the largest health insurers operating in Minnesota; he was a senior vice president and chief innovations officer there.
QuickCheck’s chief medical officer, Dr. Mark Mesnik, was previously CMO at MinuteClinic, which moved its headquarters in 2009 from Minneapolis to Woonsocket, R.I., home of parent company CVS Caremark Corp.