WhiteCoat clinches AIA group healthcare deal

Singapore

DIGITAL healthcare start-up WhiteCoat has inked a partnership with AIA to become the insurer's exclusive telehealth provider for its corporate client base of 1.2 million employees and their dependants.

The deal is a first in the insurance industry's competitive group corporate solutions market. For WhiteCoat, it marks a significant milestone barely a year since it obtained its clinical licence, exponentially raising its client base from the current 50,000, and pushing the firm's estimated market value past the S$100 million range.

WhiteCoat will provide AIA's corporate base on-demand access to qualified doctors via a smartphone app, offering a one-stop, seamless service covering diagnosis, treatment, medical referrals and delivery of medicines straight to their doorstep. AIA is Singapore's largest provider of employee benefits, insuring one in every three companies or organisations.

AIA and WhiteCoat will also co-create the first digitally integrated platform in Singapore to facilitate claims processing for telemedicine services.

WhiteCoat founder and chief executive Bryan Koh said: "We are honoured to partner AIA as its exclusive telehealth provider for its corporate clients. This unprecedented milestone for WhiteCoat makes our promise of quality care more accessible to more people...

"We are dedicated to simplifying complicated processes reliably and safely, and making it easy for patients to navigate the intricacies of the healthcare system to make informed medical decisions early in order to prevent disease progression.''

WhiteCoat is the brainchild of Bryan and Natalie Koh, children of veteran banker Edmund Koh, president of UBS Asia Pacific. Bryan is a former lawyer with Allen & Gledhill's mergers and acquisitions department. Natalie is a practising cardiologist. The venture is bankrolled by the elder Mr Koh to the tune of S$5 million. Both Natalie and Bryan served a brief stint at The Business Times as interns prior to university.

WhiteCoat claims to be the first to be licensed in April last year under the Health Ministry's regulatory sandbox scheme called LEAP (Licensing Experimentation and Adaptation Programme). It obtained its clinical licence in May. Its vision is to bring "accessible, affordable healthcare to people, anytime, anywhere'', said Mr Koh.

Its proposition is to make visits to the doctor as painless as possible, cutting out the typical wait time of one to two hours. Unlike most other telehealth providers which operate on a platform basis, WhiteCoat employs its own team of doctors, which ensures a single-minded focus on the teleconsult channel. Consultation is done via smartphone video calls. It takes under 12 minutes from the time a call is logged until payment. Medicines are delivered within two hours. The average bill size including medicines and delivery is S$42.

An integrated platform with AIA is expected to make the claims process seamless, with automated billing at the back end so users will not need to fork out cash and seek reimbursement. Documentation such as a record of the consultation and medical certificates will also be automatically logged. The system is expected to be rolled out before the end of the year.

Alvin Fu, AIA Singapore chief corporate solutions officer, said: "AIA puts customers at the heart of everything we do. Our exclusive partnership with WhiteCoat will provide increased accessibility and convenience to quality healthcare for our customers. We're excited to leverage digital technologies to make quality healthcare more efficient and seamless...''

He said WhiteCoat was selected by the group "based on their clinical protocols, commitment to patient safety and convenience to customers''.

A strong clinical governance is at the heart of the firm's offering. Dr Yii Hee Seng, who has over 30 years' experience in family medicine, is executive chairman of WhiteCoat's medical advisory board. Associate Professor Goh Lee Gan, who is at the forefront of family medicine education at the National University of Singapore, also sits on the medical advisory board. It aims to hire doctors with at least 10 years of medical experience, including three to five years in family medicine.

The deal is expected to accelerate WhiteCoat's plans to expand in countries such as the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia, particularly with the need now to service AIA's corporate base. "From what we gather, there have been a lot of requests from employees to introduce this. Corporates are eager to adopt telehealth solutions,'' says Mr Koh.

WhiteCoat's team of doctors is expected to expand to 12 this year. The firm will also explore operating on a 24-hour mode, and allow doctors to consult from their homes.

At the moment a doctor is able teleconsult with roughly 1,500 patients a month. Mr Koh said: "We're confident that we're able to service current and future clients; we're working to ensure we're efficient in all aspects, in delivery and fulfilment as well. We can't 'uberise' healthcare like transport. Quality healthcare has to be consistent.''

WhiteCoat's market value is estimated at about S$120 million, based on a conservative assumption of a 5 per cent penetration of AIA's corporate base, and using a revenue multiple of 10 times. This also assumes that clients consult with WhiteCoat an average of five times a year.

The firm expects to break even in 2020. Based on the current client base of 50,000, 68 per cent of users are between the ages of 20 and 44, and 18 per cent are 45 to 64 years old.

WhiteCoat has been approached by parties keen to provide growth capital. The founders are open to discussions, but will only consider parties who can support them strategically in their regional expansion and over the long term.