Membership programs such as Covac Global, Medjet, Global Rescue, and International SOS can supplement that. … [+]
Glenn Davis says he's grateful for the medical and security membership he bought on a whim three days before his recent trip to Italy.
Davis, a partner at an executive recruiting firm in Tampa, Florida, was visiting her daughter in Rome when she stepped off a train platform and fell onto the tracks, breaking her leg.
Two men rescued him seconds before the train arrived. He was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Italy, where no one spoke English, he said.
“It was very frustrating,” he says.
Fortunately, Medjet members in Davis offer medical transportation services. He called Medgett, who immediately arranged for an ambulance and went straight to a hospital in Tampa.
“They were a lifesaver,” he added.
What’s next for medical and security memberships?
Membership programs such as Covac Global, Medjet, Global Rescue, and International SOS can supplement your travel insurance by adding valuable services such as emergency response hotlines, interpretation, and home hospital evacuation. (Travel insurance often only transports you to the nearest hospital in the event of an accident.) But with post-pandemic travel, medical and security members are adapting to meet new challenges. And observers say it will happen in the near future. We can do more than just take you to the nearest hospital.
Ross Caldwell-Thompson, CEO of Kovac Global, says membership numbers in health and security are on the brink of a seismic shift. Traditional healthcare and security membership companies are working hard to improve technology and integration and upgrade their products to add value in the new era of travel. However, our core mission of bringing our members home without complex requirements is paramount.
“The industry needs to look at its core service, the one that actively brings members home,” he says.
What kind of train is coming for subscribers, and for the industry itself? The past few months provide some clues.
Covac Global adds search and rescue coverage
Kovac launched priority location and extraction benefits for all members in January. This is unique in the industry as Kovac does not need to know the location of its members. “It could be a teenager who doesn't come back from a nightclub in Spain, or an executive who doesn't come back from a business dinner in Mexico City,” Thompson says. “Our global location-based response resources have the ability to initiate and investigate searches well in advance of the required policy wait times, when many police, rescue workers and park rangers are tied up.”
Global Rescue’s new GRID 2.0
One of the latest developments for medical and security memberships is Global Rescue's GRID 2.0 system, which was introduced last month. The new system will push event notifications and alerts to customers. These include warnings about civil unrest, disease-related developments, safety issues, transportation disruptions, communications failures, and natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, and volcanic activity. In an emergency, the GRID 2.0 app connects travelers with medical teams and military special operations veterans who staff Global Rescue's Global Operations Center.
Paul Mullen, vice president of enterprise sales at Global Rescue, said that after the pandemic, business leaders, security officers and human resources professionals asked for a more robust notification system.
“They were looking for something like this,” he says.
GRID 2.0 is intended for use by businesses to track travelers. You can overlay a traveler's location on a map and note potential threats. This information is also provided to travelers to avoid any trouble. In a world of increasing uncertainty, Mullen says this is an invaluable tool.
International SOS adds new Chinese service
International SOS, which provides medical, health and security risk management services to businesses, has added new Chinese language services at the end of 2023 in response to the rapidly growing demand of Chinese companies in overseas markets. International SOS' team of medical, health and safety consultants currently provides 24/7 global coverage with native Chinese speaking assistance support. “We have seen a significant increase in demand from Chinese customers in overseas markets,” said Nicholas Sommer, managing director of International SOS. International SOS China.
Global Guardian integrates with Concur
Global Guardian, which provides international duty of care services to businesses, organizations and high net worth individuals, recently partnered with Concur Travel. The company offers Concur, its travel expense and travel management software, as a way to meet duty of care needs through a suite of travel, medical and security-related services.
“International travel is more challenging than ever for businesses and their employees. Our integration with Concur Travel will improve the traveler experience and provide real-time support,” said Dale Buckner, CEO of Global Guardian. “It will be available,” he said.
Also new: Leisure travelers ride the medical and security membership train
Perhaps one of the biggest changes in healthcare and security memberships is who buys memberships. Once the domain of corporate executives and the ultra-high-net-worth, these memberships also appeal to international leisure travelers and families.
“They're starting to realize that it's not just about affordability,” says Carrie Pasquarello, CEO of Global Secure Resources. “But integrating reliable support services can also help reduce stress when dealing with unpredictable geopolitical and environmental challenges.”
Accurate numbers are difficult to come by in this industry, as most of the major companies are privately held. But key insiders acknowledged in interviews that much of the new growth is coming from leisure travelers who enjoy the benefits of these medical and security memberships. And further growth may lie ahead.
“Always aim to evolve”
So what's next?
“We are always looking to evolve our services to reflect what travelers are most concerned about,” said Mike Hallman, CEO of Medjet.
How will medical and security memberships evolve? During the pandemic, Medjet added transportation for COVID-19 positive patients. Holman says it wasn't easy. The biggest challenge was finding a way for aircraft companies to equip their aircraft and train their operating staff to follow proper procedures.
Holman dropped hints about how companies like Medjet might evolve. Our latest customer service survey found that the overwhelming majority of travelers (99.7%) are concerned about safety, and of those, 57% are more concerned about safety than ever. When asked what they were most concerned about while traveling, 27.9% said political instability, 27.7% said terrorism, and 13% said crime.
Hallman said these concerns have led to increased sales of MedjetHorizon, a product that also includes safe evacuation and crisis response for a wide range of threats, including riots, violent crime, terrorism, kidnappings and disappearances.
But there may be more these companies can do to address traveler concerns.
what happens?
Similar to travel insurance, medical and security memberships are also slow to change. The company's core products, such as emergency medical evacuation and security services, have become staples in the corporate travel world and are making inroads into leisure travel. But technology is advancing rapidly, and we may be at a tipping point where a new product or service could change everything.
