Stas Samarin spent a good portion of his life on the front-end of healthcare innovation. From the National Science Foundation-funded Innovation Acceleration Partnership to working for the Fortune 25 healthcare technology companies, he’s been looking for the gaps in today’s healthcare, driven by an existential need to revolutionize an industry, create new things.
And then he found something. Like Uber for taxis and AirB&B for hotels.
He and his friends call it Justimed, a game-changer in the world of medical tourism. It’s a customer-facing Web platform connecting patients from the United States with the world’s best hospitals and physicians. And an accompanying app; a one-stop-shop for selecting, booking, buying, traveling, and receiving Medical Services.
“We find the best matches between patients, doctors, procedures and prices.” Samarin said. “ We democratize healthcare by offering a one-stop-shop platform that makes healthcare both accessible and affordable. It’s similar to travel sites, where you know exactly what you are paying for. And you also have a guarantee of the quality. You have user ratings on the travel sites. You’ll have those for doctors and hospitals, and you’ll have their national accreditations on Justimed.com as well.”
There’s tremendous potential in the medical tourism industry. But it hasn’t seen the growth one might expect. That’s due to a combination of factors, ranging from a lack of information and trust to the financial concerns associated with travel and medicine. Successful companies thus far have been limited in scope and by distance. Samarin is thinking globally — and he’s finding ways to eliminate these risks.
Once Samarin had his golden ticket idea, he went looking for partners. Enter Yakov Svirnovskiy. The pair’s relationship stretches back nearly a decade; they met while working in analytics and product innovation at Express Scripts, back then the largest Pharmacy Benefit Management provider in the US. Svirnovskiy said they hit it off on frequent business trips to New Jersey, where they’d spend free time taking hours-long walks through towns and city centers, miles to cobblestone streets.
“We always dreamed about starting a business together,” Svirnovskiy said. “He came to me with an idea. ‘Let’s do medical tourism. Because this is something that’s not done as of now.’ This is a chance for us to live that dream of revolutionizing healthcare and helping people get better.”
They’ve since recruited two more faces: Victor Veytsman and Justin Spencer. Each of the core four have a specific focus, from strategy to data analytics and IT development.
It’s a business model that’s uniquely primed to succeed right now. The Covid-19 pandemic shifted the ground under the medical tourism industry. They don’t expect to see people willingly flying for medical procedures until next Spring. So the team has ample time to plan a launch.
“We started working on this idea during the pandemic. We have a chance to make it right. If we were constantly fighting to stay relevant within the market, we wouldn’t have time to think strategically.”
Roughly 1.6 million Americans a year take part in the medical tourism industry. Svirnovskiy said around 90% do so to save money, a number that can “explode if we do it right.” But they’re also working out ways to package travel opportunities with elective surgical procedures. Travelers could schedule global vacations around two doctors appointments.
To accommodate that second group, the Justimed team is working on ensuring that global trips, including the cost of plane tickets and hotel stays, when combined with medical procedures, will still be cheaper than the cost of an elective surgery in the United States.
“I fly to Panama, a lifelong dream,” Svirnovskiy said. “The doctor performs a procedure, and I am free to go all over the country. Seven days later, I can head back to the doctor’s office to make sure everything is in working order and make my way back to the States.”
It’s an untapped market — brimming with potential. Energized.
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