Excellence in the Italian assistance industry

BMC Health Solutions h24 has been operating since 2015. Can you tell us how the industry has changed in that time and how the business has adapted to those changes?

Maria Pasconcino: In 2015 we started our mission as a small firm in a small village. Now we are a company with a huge network of doctors and clinics across Italy and the Maltese territory.

Covid-19 put a strain on our mission; tourism decreased across the world and medical assistance changed from face-to-face consultations to video and telephone calls. We prepared for those changes and increased our medical team. Since the pandemic, people are now used to asking for telemedicine because it's faster and easier – we still provide a great deal of this service.

Our job is to provide excellent assistance to the client, not only through medical consultations, but everything related to it such as transportation, accommodation and medicine delivery.

When people are abroad, our mission is to make them feel safe. Every day our multilingual operation centre reaches out to hundreds of people to reassure them.

You work with many medical professional partners throughout Italy. How do you choose which partners to work with, and how vital are these relationships?

MP: Our process of choosing medical partners is made with specific criteria. The first step is to evaluate the CVs, then we start a test period where we monitor their skills. We always prefer doctors who speak several languages, particularly English.

When it comes to clinics and ambulances we prefer to work with the ones who have certified experience.

Over the years, we ceased working with some partners due to their incompetence.

The economic environment is very challenging for the industry currently. How is BMC Health Solutions h24 facing such challenges?

Anastasia Tomilova: The world has gone through unprecedented changes in recent years.

Brexit, Covid-19 and the unrest in the world made a huge impact on the travel industry. Now that the pandemic has ended, we have discovered a new way to travel which means a higher expectation of the products purchased by our customers.

Brexit, Covid-19 and the
unrest in the world made a huge
impact on the travel industry

We have adapted and evolved our response services in the way we deliver assistance. New challenges gave us the opportunity to develop a 360 degree service within the medical sector, logistics services and now roadside assistance. Our aim is to deliver excellence by representing our clients and their products with a human touch.

What makes BMC Health Solutions h24 stand out from the crowd?

AT: We provide medical services of all kinds – logistics services, roadside assistance, plus doctor visits (we are also investing in our private clinics). Our small private clinic in Florence – Doctor Florence – is a clear example of innovation and care in the centre of Florence itself and has already become a reference point for many students and tourists.