Israeli company Air Doctor provides insurers with a global outpatient medical network through which their customers can access the most appropriate care while travelling abroad. A major benefit; at no cost to them – reducing reimbursement costs for the insurers, improving the experience for travellers, and providing local doctors with a new revenue stream. With more than 12,000 doctors in 52 countries around the world, including many of the most popular tourist destinations, customers can almost always expect abroad care that is suitable to their needs.

Most insurers do not have an outpatient care network and instead direct travellers to hospitals if they fall ill abroad, even if they just need a simple outpatient appointment. For most travellers, this won’t be the right course of action for their needs and will result in an experience that is frustrating for them as well as unnecessary costs for the insurer and putting undue pressure on local emergency healthcare services.

The Air Doctor app connects travellers with the most appropriate doctor for their needs, either through an online or in-person consultation. Doctors consist from a global network of comprehensively-vetted practitioners including GPs, pediatricians, dentists, ophthalmologists, dermatologists, gynecologists, and orthopedic specialists. By directing travellers to local private clinics when they fall ill abroad, rather than to more expensive emergency care in combination with the preferential rates Air Doctor gets from doctors for whom it is opening up a new revenue stream, claim  costs are reduced by 30 per cent.

Currently, the Air Doctor app has been downloaded over 75,000 times. Air Doctor’s proprietary app is available on iOS, Android and web, but the modular API enables the platform to be integrated into an insurer’s own app as a co-branded service under the insurer’s brand. Air Doctor is available to all travellers, regardless of whether or not they have insurance with one of our partners.

How it works
Within the Air Doctor app, travellers can search for suitable local doctors, with the ability to filter on languages, medical specialism, proximity, appointment availability and other relevant factors. The app provides recommendations from within Air Doctor’s network of doctors and appointments can be scheduled in just a couple of taps.

Travellers can arrange both online and in-person consultations. Online consultations are available 24/7. In-person consultations are available in line with the individual clinic’s opening hours and operating practices, including hotel or home visits and out-of-hours consultations where the clinic provides them.

Typically the costs of consultations are covered by the relevant insurer or other partner – there are no costs for the traveller. The partnered insurer receives fortnightly reports from Air Doctor, detailing consultations carried out, as well as an invoice for the relevant charges. Air Doctor pays the doctors, taking a commission on each consultation fee, and is subsequently reimbursed by the insurer or other partner.

The exact payment process varies depending on the circumstances by which the traveller uses Air Doctor:

• If they access Air Doctor through an insurer who is partner of Air Doctor and the insurer has opted for our cashless process, the traveller pays nothing for the consultation. The doctor invoices Air Doctor, who then pays the fee after taking a commission from the doctor. Air Doctor then takes payment from the insurer on a fortnightly basis.
• If the insurer does not adopt our cashless process, the traveller pays for the consultation and is reimbursed by the insurer.
• If the traveller has insurance with an insurer that does not have a partnership with Air Doctor, they pay for the consultation and arrange reimbursement through their insurer’s claims process.
• If the traveller does not have insurance, they pay for the consultation themselves via Air Doctor.

Who is Air Doctor?
Air Doctor was founded in 2016, in Israel. The founding team includes Jenny Cohen Derfler (CEO), previously general manager of Intel’s Israeli manufacturing facility, Efrat Sagi-Ofir (COO), recently a finalist in Quesnay’s Female Founders in Insurtech competition, Yam Derfler (CTO) and Yegor Kurbachev (Business Development).

The company has raised $10.9 million in venture funding to date, through a $3.1 million seed round in 2018 and a $7.8 million Series A round in 2020. Investors include the AXA-backed venture builder Kamet Ventures and The Phoenix (one of Israel’s leading insurance companies). Next to AXA and The Phoenix, Air Doctor also partners with hotel groups such as Fattal, Ritz Carlton Herzliya, and Selina Motels Mexico.

”Air Doctor removes as much friction as possible from the experience of accessing healthcare abroad, enabling travellers to access the most appropriate care quickly and easily, reducing claims costs for insurers, and creating an additional revenue stream for doctors.” Jenny Cohen Derfler, CEO Air Doctor

https://air-dr.com/

Check out their live demo here:
https://www.digitalinsuranceagenda.com/dia-tv/video/global-outpatient-medical-network-reduce-claim-costs-improve-the-customer-journey/