Air Doctor: CEO Jenny Cohen Derfler, CRO Efrat Sagi-Ofir, Yegor Kurbachev VP R&D, and Yam Derfler VP of Innovation.
Air Doctor gives travelers who need medical assistance abroad, access to global outpatient coverage through an easy-to-use app.
The company offers travelers the best possible medical services if they fall ill abroad through quick and convenient access to high-quality care through their extensive global network.
With 24/7 multi-lingual medical assistance, they can experience the world worry-free, and insurance providers can enjoy reduced claims costs. The customer experience is further personalized since travelers can filter doctors by the most common medical specialty, location, preferred language, and more.
Air Doctor is founded by CEO Jenny Cohen Derfler, CRO Efrat Sagi-Ofir, Yegor Kurbachev VP R&D, and Yam Derfler VP of Innovation.
This article is a part of a series of articles presenting the Israeli delegation to the ITC conference.
What problem is it meant to solve?
Most insurers don’t have access to an outpatient care network and instead direct travelers to hospital if they fall abroad. For most travelers this won’t be the right course of action and usually results in a frustrating experience for them and incurs unnecessary costs for the insurer.
Air Doctor’s outpatient network enables insurance providers to direct travelers to more appropriate, convenient, and immediate healthcare whilst reducing their costs.
On the other hand, Air Doctor also supports global health services by relieving pressure on local emergency resources, since the service helps reorient patients to outpatient care – in addition to providing additional revenue streams for doctors.
And most obviously, Air Doctor gives travelers peace of mind that they can avail appropriate, affordable medical care while abroad if they need to.
Air Doctor’s solution benefits the entire travel health ecosystem.
What is your business model?
Air Doctor is an extremely agile solution that allows us to have dynamic business models streamlined to suit each partner specifically within their industries and systems.
Claim settlement is agreed on a case-by-case basis with each partner but usually follows these guidelines:
Air Doctor receives invoices from each doctor for each consultation conducted, pays the fee to the doctor, after taking a commission on each consultation. And issues a single itemized invoice to the insurer on a fortnightly basis.
Additional information can be provided on specific cases as required. There is also no platform charge to doctors within our network – the only costs they incur related to necessary implementation and administration on their end, as well as the commission fee that Air Doctor takes on each consultation.
Low integration functionality also allows us to go live in record times.
How do you see the current situation in that area on the insurance industry today?
We are aware that many established insurance companies are facing pressure from consumers to innovate, in addition to internal blocks caused by legacy systems and processes. Air Doctor aims to offer insurance providers a low-complexity solution to innovating within the insurance space – one that truly improves the customer experience.
As our CEO and Founder, Jenny Cohen Derfler said, “We are unique in our ability to customize our product through our own developed technology to the specific needs of insurers and OTAs. We are the first and only company providing healthcare for travelers through partnerships with close affiliates, through our B2B model.”
In 2020, the COVID-19 outbreak brought the world to a standstill, and no one was prepared for the consequences. The travel and tourism sector experienced a severe economic slowdown as a result of stringent quarantine regulations and travel restrictions.
“As the world emerges from COVID-19, people have resumed travel, with a greater demand for suitable travel insurance and digital solutions. The pandemic has forced the industry to reassess local medical treatment available for travelers. Today, travelers testing positive for the Coronavirus will be able to seek medical care in the local communities they are in rather than in hospitals.” said Jenny Cohen Derfler, CEO and Founder of Air Doctor. “Air Doctor has become one of the fastest-growing startups, with tens of thousands registered users and many more accessing the network worldwide. Today the company offers a unique and distinctive digital product with almost no competition worldwide.” Said CEO Cohen Derfler
According to the World Economic Forum’s recent survey, the travel industry is expected to fully recover by 2024. Additionally, many countries may mandate travel insurance coverage. These two factors will create a dramatic surge in the need for better travel insurance. Furthermore, insurers facing travelers’ demands are seeking to expand their offer of digital, physical and online healthcare coverage to provide an improved customer experience and reduce claim costs.
What investments have been made in the company so far?
Air Doctor has raised substantial funding through a $3.1 million seed round in 2018 and a $7.8 million Series A round in 2020. Air Doctor recently scored $20 Million in an extension of Series A round led by Lightspeed Capital. Other investors include Munich Re Ventures, Kamet Ventures, and The Phoenix, one of Israel’s leading insurance companies.
What is your current business situation?
We recently secured $20 Million in funding and have secured incredible partnerships with leading organizations – we are currently focusing on expanding our global reach, particularly in the US and Europe. We’re exploring new verticals too, as well as growing our B2C levels.
Which companies interest you as business partners?
Air Doctor is looking to partner with like-minded insurance providers that have a global reach who want to bring innovation to the forefront, ultimately ensuring that more travelers can get quality medical care they know in the places they don’t.
What are some trends you’ve noticed in this space picking up momentum?
We’ve picked up on a few trends that have been influencing our business that are thought-provoking. First, that people live longer and travel more. Second, the middle class is growing, particularly in Asia and Latin America, and are also traveling more. Third, people are seeking out more life experiences like travel, rather than material possessions. All these changes bring businesses, such as Insurers and OTA’s, to focus on the need to digitize the customer experience, together with the ability for mass customization. Air Doctor provides both, in addition to a significant boost to revenue – more than 20% in fact.
