“Being an entrepreneur is overestimated by society,” states Miguel Angel Anton.“People don’t realize how tough it is and how complicated it is to succeed.”
According to Miguel, the CEO and Founder of Elma Care, succeeding is associated with building blocks from scratch rigorously. And hence, in March 2018, he decided to launch a health insurance company that provides digital end-to-end customer solutions.
Elma being a start-up has revolutionized the digital world by presenting 100% digital insurance anytime, anywhere. Miguel believes in providing the best of the world combined services, digitals as well as face-to-face. With Elma Care’s 24 hours digital platform, he believes in offering personalized care focusing on a patient-centric approach.
In an interview with Insights Care, Miguel talks about Elma Care and how he wishes to digitalize the healthcare regime with his futuristic approach.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
Miguel, what was your inspiration behind venturing into the healthcare industry?
We wanted to offer end-to-end digital solutions in the private health care space. It is clear that there are many players, but none of them are fully digital, and none of them includes all the care. Elma is a health company that became a payer (insurance) because in Spain, if you want to offer a full experience, you have to be on the payer side.
Please tell us about your journey as the CEO and Founder of Elma Care.
I felt the insurance space digitalization was far away from what I think it should be. So, after selling my previous venture, I started diving into the insurance space. But at that time, Antai was creating a telemedicine platform. I met Marc Jordan from Antai and Albert Malagarriga (Elma’s co-founder as well), and we decided to launch a venture in the health space. Since that moment in March 2018, Elma has been on a tough and amazing journey.
We have converted the company from a telemedicine platform to an MGA health insurance company that provides an end-to-end digital solution in the health space. We at Elma and thanks to our digital Primary care center—deliver care to all our policyholders and guide and accompany them through all the private health care systems.
Can you elaborate upon the core values on which Elma Care is built and what is its mission?
Elma offers the first 100% digital health insurance that aims to provide access to health care anytime, anywhere. Through Elma’s app, the members can regain control of their health and have access to a wide network of medical specialists and coverage in the best hospital centers. The company has developed a value proposition to help large and medium-sized companies attract and retain talent and develop healthier work environments.
Elma is committed to a user-centric strategy, incorporating functionalities that eliminate patient frustration and offer them a better experience. Thanks to its own technology that allows it not only to digitize processes but also to provide a differential value in the experience of the insured. It offers various digital functionalities: primary care, medical referral, online prescriptions, personalized health plans, and prevention tools, among others to its user.
Tell us more about the services and the immersive benefits that make your organization stand out from the competition.
In Elma, we leverage our differences based on technology. We are a tech company in the health space playing the payer role. As a payer, we want to build touching points with our users in order to create the best experience at the best price. It is clear that all our services are based on our digital platform; hence we deliver all the services needed by a policyholder. We have a digital primary care center that delivers all the services needed—guidance, accompaniment, referral, health care, telemedicine, etc. We have built a trustworthy relationship with our members, and they trust us as the first touching point when it comes to accessing the private health system.
A typical insurance company offers all types of coverage, but a third party delivers all the services, and there is no touching point between them and policyholders.
What is your opinion on healthcare providers’ aligning their offerings with newer technological developments, especially when it comes to catering to the dynamic needs of the healthcare space?
The healthcare sector needs technology, but not just from the side of therapies or hardware, which is great for me; the important change we need to make is to put the patient at the center of the system and create a digital layer between them and everyone else. We need to create a headless world where we can all connect and medical information flows between stakeholders. This point is challenging for all the players in the market, and it is very important to provide personalized care.
What are the biggest challenges that you have faced and the most important lessons that you have learned in your professional journey so far?
As a startup, the biggest challenges are funding and growth. Others are just secondary problems. With funding and growth, you can get almost everything. But entrepreneurs do not focus much on this particular issue. These have remained our biggest challenges.
I think the most important lesson I have learned is, to be honest with yourself. We are always extra positive, and we forget to be realistic. I try to keep my feet on the ground and be as realistic as possible.
Miguel, what advice would you like to give to the budding entrepreneurs and enthusiasts aspiring to venture into the healthcare niche?
Being an entrepreneur is overestimated by society. People do not realize how tough it is and how complicated it is to succeed. It is great to have a bunch of people trying out their hands at new ventures and building amazing things, but they have to understand the key elements of a startup, and they should know that 9/10 startups are closed after 24 months. If they understand the game of building a company from scratch, we must encourage them because new companies are needed. We need to develop new ideas, new companies, new ways of doing things, and overall new people with new and fresh ideas.
Where do you see yourself in the future, and how do you envision scaling your successful journey in the healthcare sector eventually?
My future today is linked to Elma. I do not imagine myself without Elma. We are building a digital solution that will bring better health to our members. I will do whatever I have to do to make Elma the company that changes the way of accessing private insurance.
