With more executives traveling, the services of Castle Connolly Lifestream MD allow those racking up frequent flier miles to travel with confidence and security because America”™s top doctors are on their side.
“Having any type of illness abroad can be a real ordeal,” said Charles Miner, a Darien doctor and founder and president of Castle Connolly Lifestream MD. “As the aging baby boomers, more than 65 million people, start traveling for business and pleasure they”™ll need resources, support and advice, and that”™s what we provide.”
Miner founded the company two years ago as Lifestream MD. Last year the venture formed a strategic partnership with Castle Connolly Medical Ltd., considered to be the top doctor rating-service of the medical world, creating Castle Connolly Lifestream MD. The company”™s international service is now live with its product and service, which has online and application-based representations.
According to the National Business Travel Association, business travel numbers are up 4 percent over last year.
“As companies are traveling more and more there”™s definitely more interest,” said Miner. “Many prospective clients see it as a recruitment and retention vehicle for a company. People are really starting to recognize the value of quality advice and speed of access. It can save a life and it can save dollars.”
Access to doctors 24/7
The service provides rapid access to designated Castle Connolly Lifestream MD”™s stable of practicing doctors anywhere in the world.
“Each member has access to three Castle Connolly vetted practicing internists, whom are familiar with members”™ full medical history records,” said Miner. “They are not acting as their primary care doctors, rather as an adviser or consultant who is available 24/7.”
The company currently has 36 members, which range from corporate accounts of 50 to 100 executives to families, couples and individuals. Many of Lifestream”™s first clients have been companies in Stamford and Greenwich. Miner said the service is attractive to the high travel industries of private equity and large law firms.
The company has an affiliated relationship with International SOS, a world provider of international health care, medical assistance and security services. The company provides acting support to the consulting LifeStream doctors.
Miner saw need from his patients
Miner developed the concept at his practice in Darien where for the past 30 years he has acted as the primary care physician for many traveling executives. He said he had been woken on more than one occasion to a call from a patient who was traveling and needed medical advice.
“A good primary care doctor is invaluable, but once you get out of the area code, most physicians don”™t have the capability to properly tend to their patients needs,” said Miner. “We augment what a primary care doctor does. We give advice; what should you do, what are the top facilities, who are the top doctors, and how do you navigate the increasingly complex health care environment halfway around the world.”
Miner said the service has proven to be an additional source of income for its employed doctors who are seeing the purse strings of their industry tighten.
“It”™s an additional revenue stream for them and it”™s something you can do from anywhere,” said Miner. The company”™s doctors are able to access medical records via Apple iPhone or iPad, which they are required to carry with them while on call.
Jeff Ansell, president and CEO of Ansell Holdings LLC, a New Jersey-based consumer goods advisory company, is a Lifestream MD client and a former Proctor and Gamble executive. Ansell has traveled to more than 70 countries, lived in Germany and has been all over the world on business.
“You become keenly aware that the access to quality health care isn”™t what it is in the United States,” said Ansell.
Because a high level of international travel can exhaust the body mentally and physically, Ansell said maintaining health while abroad is a high priority.
“Having reliable access to professionals who can see your medical history and are on call whenever you need it anywhere in the world is an amazing benefit as a traveling executive.”
Web-based records improve service
Ansell said he was attracted to Lifestream MD because of the direct contact to web-based health records and top level doctors screened by Castle Connolly.
“It”™s a service any traveling executive should want to have,” said Ansell.
Richard Hopple, president and CEO of New York City-based Guideposts magazine, was on a yacht in the Mediterranean when the blood thinners he takes had a reaction and left him stranded on the Italian island of Elba.
“None of the doctors spoke English, it was a very frightening experience,” said Hopple. “I was called back within 10 minutes by LifeStream and through International SOS, I was assured I got the right treatment. I would never travel again without that kind of security. It”™s invaluable when you”™re far from home. It”™s something you don”™t think about until something happens; it”™s wonderfully reassuring to have somebody who can be your advocate.”
