iPMI Global Speaks with Dr Joel Lockwood, Regional Chief Medical Officer Americas, World Travel Protection

In this exclusive iPMI Global interview, Christopher Knight, CEO, iPMI Global, met with Dr Joel Lockwood, Regional Chief Medical Officer Americas, at World Travel Protection. They discussed 2023 in detail and looked at the achievements of World Travel Protection over the past year.

Please introduce yourself and background in the international medical assistance market:

I am Dr Joel Lockwood, Regional Chief Medical Officer Americas, at World Travel Protection. I am also Staff Physician in Emergency Medicine and a Trauma Team Leader at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Canada. In addition, I am a transport medicine physician at Ornge Air Ambulance, as well as being a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada and an Assistant Professor in the department of Medicine at University of Toronto. 

At World Travel Protection, I oversee a team of team of full-time staff including nurses, and doctors who handle over 40,000 assistance cases annually and about 400 medical evacuations every year. 

In the past 12 months, what has your business achieved in the international assistance market?

In the past 12 months, World Travel Protection officially launched our new London Command Centre which complements our Toronto, Canada, and Brisbane, Australia Centres.

From a technology standpoint, one of the latest developments at World Travel Protection is the Travel Assist App, which saw major improvements last year and was rolled out to many leisure travellers as part of their insurance. The app has a fully interactive map for our users which allows them to see where events are happening in relation to their location and are also able to search anywhere in the world to view additional events and click on them for detailed information. It also provides access to travel safety video guides to inform travellers on risks they may encounter and how best to manage them, including specific women’s travel and LGBTQ+ safety information.

How did you do it?

World Travel Protection is dedicated to providing the best-in-class support for our clients and we continue to adapt, improve and implement new capabilities to achieve our number one priority of keeping travelling teams safe.

We have established strategic partnerships with key vendors to produce the best-in-class products and have a continuous feedback loop with customers to test and refine products. We are also continually looking for ways to improve the customer experience.

Geographically speaking, where are the “hot” international medical assistance markets currently?

We're seeing a resumption of 'once in a lifetime' trips that were delayed through Covid, even amongst those with a complicated medical history that are at high risk of a medical emergency during travel. Cruises are also once again travelling the globe at full capacity, including stopovers at remote islands which makes it challenging to arrange immediate aeromedical evacuation when someone is unwell.

Looking at 2024, what do you have planned for the international medical assistance market?

2024 is about preparing the individual for what to do if an unforeseen crisis or disaster happens. An increase in global conflicts and natural disasters in 2023 illustrated the importance of the ability to pass on timely medical and security advice for both leisure and business in the case of emergency. Our focus for 2024 is educating our clients on risk management, crisis, and disaster resilience. Travellers and organisations need to be prepared not only for expected issues in the destinations their staff are travelling to, but also the unexpected.

World Travel Protection is well positioned to support travellers as we continue to improve the user experience of our Travel Assist app. We have also partnered with CyberBoxx to ensure our customers are protected when it comes to evolving cyber security threats.

Since Covid-19, how has the international medical assistance market changed?

In the past some companies were perhaps a little blasé about business travel. But Covid, geopolitical conflicts, and climate change - leading to an increase in natural disasters, such as wildfires, floods, earthquakes and hurricanes - have changed all that. Most businesses are now aware that the global travel landscape is changing and how quickly situations can develop.

Travellers too have become more used to volatility in their travel schedules so are used to staying up-to-date with guidance and best practice. Their appetite for pre-travel knowledge and planning has increased.

What role is artificial intelligence and machine learning playing in the international medical assistance market?

Our security team’s 24/7 global monitoring is supported by artificial intelligence and analysed by security experts to provide accurate and reliable information.

World Travel Protection’s Travel Assist app features local event feeds, powered with AI, which provide rapid delivery of news happening within the user’s defined radius.

When we look at the global international medical assistance market, where do you see the major opportunities?

We see the major opportunities to be education and proactive risk management. In October 2023 alone, the world witnessed eight significant events, encompassing unrest, conflict, and adverse weather conditions. The world is changing, and business travellers need to be more prepared.

One key area which needs work is ensuring that organisations communicate to their teams the importance of using the technology available to support them. World Travel Protection offers a Travel Assist app which enables us to track individuals when the worst happens.

We have found there can be apathy from travellers, who perhaps feel that they do not need this level of support, as well as some expressing dislike about organisations knowing their location. For those worried about the ‘surveillance’ aspect, the Travel Assist app has a privacy function which places a traveller within a 5km radius of their location. By keeping it on, but masking their precise location, individuals can still be identified as potentially at risk if a situation occurs, while maintaining their privacy. Only when a serious incident occurs will the security/risk function override this.

What is the scope for global international medical assistance market?

In the past travel medical assistance was just reactive, with policy holders calling a phone number if they needed assistance in an emergency. Today, the service has revolutionised.

Technology now plays a crucial role in identifying and understanding global threats. We can monitor real time events and incidents, watch them unfold, and anticipate risks to travellers. For customers who choose to share their trip information or location, they can access automatic push notifications providing security and health risks tailored for them. Then, in the event of an incident, a customer can be identified and located immediately as potentially at risk or not and contacted to ensure their safety.

Preparation is key, but if you can’t locate or speak to your team on the ground when something goes wrong, you are in trouble. Organisations are now taking a proactive approach to ensuring the health and safety of their teams.

For example, we recently identified a group of leisure and corporate customers located near a significant earthquake. Because travellers were sharing their location, we could quickly identify who might be impacted. They were then personally contacted to ascertain their safety as well as checking to see if they required any assistance.