Ezuan Yaacob is on a mission to disrupt the Malaysian healthcare industry

EZUAN Yaacob studied engineering and worked in the telecommunications and oil and gas industries before trying his hand at entrepreneurship.

His first venture, a B2B portal for doctors to find freelance work with clinics, was a success and he eventually sold it off to a Japanese firm.

He used part of the proceeds to start a new medical-related venture called MedKad, an app-based medical benefits management system which allows employers to efficiently manage their workers’ medical benefits.

Ezuan declares that his aim is nothing less than to disrupt the industry with his app, which offers a win-win-win scenario for employers, employees and clinics.

Employers will get real-time notifications when an employee uses MedKad at any of its panel clinics. Employees don’t need to carry around any physical cards as everything is done through the mobile app. They can also find the nearest panel through the app. The clinics also benefit because they can get their payments much faster.

WHAT’S YOUR BACKGROUND?

I’m an engineer. I worked for a telecoms company for nine years and later, in oil and gas for five years before venturing into business.

WAS MEDKAD YOUR FIRST BUSINESS VENTURE?

No, actually my first start-up was something called Job4locum, which can be described as a marketplace for doctors to do freelance or part-time work.

There was a demand for such a platform and I charged both the clinics and the doctors whenever there was a match. So I got income from both parties. This was in 2014.

By 2016, I’d sold it to a Japanese company that was in the medical line. As part of the deal, I had to stay on for two more years. By 2018, I was free to do my own thing and that’s when I focused on MedKad.

YOUR VENTURES SEEM TO BE MEDICAL-RELATED. WHY SO?

Well, I’m not a doctor but my wife is. That’s how I got my inspiration to do Job4locum. I’d heard her stories about doctors who were looking to do freelance work and I felt it was such a shame that there was no online platform to match clinics who needed doctors and doctors who wanted to do some extra work.

HOW DID THE IDEA FOR MEDKAD COME AROUND?

One day I’d posted on Facebook that I was working on a new project involving FinTech.

My now-co-founder, Ahmad Azlan, contacted me and asked for a meeting. I’d known him from my dealings with Teraju when I applied for a SUPERB (Skim Permulaan Usahawan Bumiputera) grant. He was a staff there at the time. After chatting for a while, the FinTech idea became a HealthTech idea. So, that’s how MedKad got started.

WHAT’S THE BASIC IDEA BEHIND MEDKAD?

To get rid of physical cards and to digitise the whole process using mobile apps. So when you go to a clinic, you won’t need a card anymore. Just scan the code.

 Ezuan declares that his aim is nothing less than to disrupt the healthcare industry.
Ezuan declares that his aim is nothing less than to disrupt the healthcare industry.

WHO ARE YOU DISRUPTING WITH THIS NEW APPROACH?

It would be Managed Care Organisations (MCO), also known as Third Party Administrators. These companies provide intermediary services for various stakeholders like companies, its employees and clinics or hospitals. We’re also registered as an MCO but we do things digitally. The traditional MCOs do things manually.

As a result, the clinics have to wait for a long time to get paid. We guarantee the clinics can get paid within five working days.

WHY AREN’T THE OTHER MCOs GOING DIGITAL AS WELL?

It’s mainly a legacy issue. We’re a start-up so we have no legacy issues to deal with. We come into this business leveraging on technology. We were digital from the start.

With digital, we can do things in real time and provide a degree of transparency that’s not possible when done the manual and analogue way.

In fact, we’re so transparent that our clients will know exactly how much we make in terms of commissions.

WHAT KIND OF IMMEDIATE INFORMATION CAN COMPANIES KNOW ABOUT THEIR STAFF’S USE OF MEDICAL BENEFITS?

They’ll know which clinic or hospital they went to, on which day, at what time, what the diagnosis was, what medication was prescribed, how much was charged, etc. The MC issued is also time-stamped. A lot of immediate information for the HR department.

WHAT OTHER BENEFITS ARE THERE FOR COMPANIES?

We can help them achieve some savings on medical bills. We have our own price checking mechanism which allows us to track medication price. If we detect a clinic is charging higher than the market price, our team will call them. The clinic will need to justify the higher price.

 Medkad aims to get rid of physical cards and to digitise the whole process using mobile apps.
Medkad aims to get rid of physical cards and to digitise the whole process using mobile apps.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS FOR CLINICS?

A lot of clinics have bad experiences with MCOs. Some closed down and couldn’t pay.

We make the submission process easy and transparent and as mentioned earlier, we pay them within five working days, which is far from the norm. Typically, clinics get paid every month, two months or even longer.

ARE MOST OF THE COMPANIES YOU DEAL WITH BIG OR SMALL COMPANIES?

When we started, we focused on small companies. From January 2018 to June 2018, we targeted smaller entities.

But from July onwards, we started talking to big corporations. Those take a longer time to close the deal because they have strict procurement policies and so on. But we’re making progress with big companies as well.

WHAT ABOUT CLINICS? WAS IT EASY TO GET THEM ON BOARD?

Clinics are generally easier as they hear good things about us through word of mouth. Last year, we signed up about 1,000 clinics. We also signed up 56 hospitals, 184 optical centres and 74 dental clinics.

AS CEO, ARE YOU MAINLY INVOLVED IN SALES?

When we started, I had to do a lot of sales but now I focus more on product development.

DO YOU PLAN TO EXPAND REGIONALLY OR INTERNATIONALLY?

Our next country is Indonesia. I’d say for the next two years we’ll be focusing on Indonesia. If it works well there, then we’ll replicate this for the rest of the region. I do have international ambitions but that’s like five years down the road.

DO YOU ENJOY DOING BUSINESS?

I do! Compared to other industries, healthcare is very interesting and based on the connections and knowledge that I have, there are a lot of opportunities.

AS AN ENTREPRENEUR, WILL YOU STICK ONLY TO HEALTHCARE THOUGH?

Not necessarily. I have a lot of ideas and people I meet present different ideas to me as well so I’m open to possibilities, especially in areas like education and smart cities.

Related Articles