EASING ACCESS TO HIGH-QUALITY HEALTHCARE

Lexihealth co-founder and Chief Medical Offi cer Romana Kuchai explains how her company helps patients navigate their healthcare journey in London, ensuring access to the city’s leading hospitals and specialists

For those seeking private healthcare outside their own country, there is usually a lot of work needed to make all the arrangements. From organising the initial appointment and investigations to following up on the results and making a decision on treatment, it can be a di cult set of tasks for people without the time to spare and in need of guidance.

Lexihealth takes the strain out of this process, combining the entire journey into something that is time-e cient for the patient, designed to fi t in with the individual’s work and lifestyle.

Essentially, Lexihealth is a medical concierge service that ensures patients are assisted throughout their healthcare journey. We fi nd the right hospital and specialist for each patient’s consultation or treatment, at a time that suits, with transparency of pricing, fee structure and timeframe from investigation to treatments. We provide a bespoke service, tailored to the needs of the individual.

Lexihealth provides a broad-spectrum service for those that are unfamiliar with healthcare and don’t have the time to commit to making what are, sometimes, complex arrangements. Even general practitioners, who o er a fantastic service, can need guidance on the specialists that their patients may require, so we can o er expertise and a wide-ranging directory of consultants that medical professionals can trust.

Our patient liaison managers are the ‘gel’ that joins all of the di erent elements – the consultant’s team, the hospital admin team, the diagnostics team, and you. The patient has one port of call,

one phone number, to take care of everything. It’s like having a personal assistant for your healthcare.

Our clients benefit from our in-house, peer-reviewed directory of over 350 clinicians, compiled by our medical advisory committee, which comprises the doctors they would recommend for their own families. In short, it is a ‘Who’s Who’ of medicine that, in eŽect, provides access to a virtual hospital around London with the best clinicians.

Addressing a need

Lexihealth began when I and my business partner, Aaron Simpson, the founder of lifestyle concierge company Quintessentially, identified a need for quicker and easier access to healthcare. I am a consultant surgeon at Imperial

College – specialising in ear, nose and throat surgery – and it was through hearing about patients’ experiences that I felt that there was a need for London to make it easier for international visitors to access the city’s private health services.

Patients were being very candid and open about London’s healthcare oŽering, praising both its world-class facilities and specialists, but wondering why it could be so complicated to access these. They had often found it easier to go to other countries, where a premium, end-to-end service was assured, from the point where they were greeted on arrival at the airport through to completion of their treatment at the hospital or clinic.

The journey starts before the patient comes to the hospital, in terms of

Romana Kuchai, Lexihealth co-founder and Chief Medical Officer

“During a time of great stress, Lexihealth took control and ensured that we would see a world-leading specialist in a matter of days, taking control of the situation and very much putting us at ease. The team’s efficiency, knowledge, compassion and ongoing support was invaluable during this difficult time. This is an unrivalled service. I could not recommend them enough – Lexihealth is the future of healthcare”

Anonymous patient

organisation and advice. This is where Lexihealth comes in. We focus on the pre, peri and post experience of healthcare in London.

Lexihealth extrapolated the philosophy of Quintessentially – which has organised holidays, flights, restaurant bookings, concert and theatre tickets for its clients for 20 years – into healthcare. We looked at what was required to create a sound model for such a service, consulting leading members of the medical fraternity to recommend the best people across 65 di erent specialties. Currently, we have 16 medical advisory committee members, who helped us build a goldstandard list of the UK’s best doctors to manage each and every case.

Lexihealth works with a very wide range of leading hospitals, clinics and specialists, so we are truly independent. We facilitate price comparisons, transparency in pricing and a really smooth journey throughout the entire process.

Ultimately, it also is about access, because these consultants are overbooked and securing an appointment can often take weeks. However, with our connectivity, we can access what can otherwise be inaccessible – when we make a phone call to a clinician, who might booked up for the next three weeks, we will get an appointment within the next 48 hours.

We can arrange for a second opinion, as well. Patients can receive a goldstandard opinion from a radiologist, oncologist, pathologist etc that can be carried out remotely, which saves time and the necessity to travel. If treatment is then needed, this can be organised around a timescale.

Travel and tourism

Aside from being a hub for the best-quality healthcare, with practically every medical specialty available within a couple of square miles, London is also an excellent location for international patients from a leisure point of view. The many and varied attractions of London are a valuable bonus for international health tourists that many cities and countries are unable to o er.

Lexihealth can also take care of the travel and tourism arrangements of its clients and their families, leveraging the expertise of Quintessentially, with which we work very closely. We o er a membership scheme that also incorporates Quintessentially, covering both healthcare and lifestyle,

and can also advise on an individual basis. Our membership has been based on word of mouth and I am pleased to say we have an impressive 45% return rate among people who use our services.

We have also been making inroads into the corporate sector, for those with or without health insurance. We can assist smaller or larger businesses, helping employees navigate their healthcare journey, optimizing work-life balance and preventing unnecessary time o.

Although many companies oer health insurance to their sta, the one service that insurance firms generally don’t oer is to hand-hold people throughout the medical process. They can advise and provide a list of clinicians that they cover, but beyond that patients are

often left to their own devices, which I often see in my own practice.

Building on our success

Last year, Lexihealth won a prestigious award for being the best health concierge company, which we were very proud to receive. In 2018, we were one of only 10 companies selected by PwC from hundreds of start-ups to become part of their scaleup project, which was a superb validation of our business model and approach.

For the future, Lexihealth is looking to create the best possible experience for patients on their healthcare journey in London, building on the foundations we have created and ensuring access to the ever-expanding wealth of medical facilities, new technology and specialists for international visitors. Lexihealth 1 Welbeck Street, London W1G 0AR General Enquiries: +44(0) 207 856 0397 Memberships: memberships@lexihealth.com Health Management Team: concierge@lexihealth.com